


Fire Keeper

by SparrowGlas



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Character, Creature Fic, Creature Inheritance, Domestic Fluff, Dragons, Fluff, Graphic Description, Humor, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Polyamorous Pack, Sex, Sexual Tension, Sub Harry Potter, Threats of Violence, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 53,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24631903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparrowGlas/pseuds/SparrowGlas
Summary: A strange occurrence during the Triwizard Tournament, an unease, a sudden fixation with a shy Slytherin, all things which Harry Potter knows are having an impact on his life.But, how? And, why?*Work previously posted on FF under old username*Original Creature Concept thought up by Salus Gem, borrowed with permission.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Original Male Character(s), Theodore Nott/Harry Potter, Theodore Nott/Harry Potter/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 660





	1. Prologue

Harry drew a sharp breath in as he pushed open the curtain that separated him from what could possibly be, the end of his life.

He scraped a shaking hand through ruffled hair badly in need of a cut, his green eyes focused solely on the golden egg that lay like a taunting presence in the middle of what seemed to be an empty field.

But it couldn't possibly be an empty field. No, she was most definitely here. He could almost hear the shallow puffs of her breath as he took a step forward, and another…

And then, suddenly, there she was. Her head threw back in a triumphant roar as she watched him scatter back, his chest heaving as he stared emerald green eyes into her own golden ones. And she stared back.

Her every sense, every thought was directed at him, around him. Go on, she seemed to dare, her eyes unblinking as he whispered the words that would summon his broom to his side, try to take it.

Harry mounted his broom, his heart beating an insane rhythm against his chest as he took flight, and she followed. Each manoeuvre of his was countered by her, each swipe in the egg's direction easily stopped by a lazy flick of her tail or wing. For a bizarre moment, Harry believed she knew. She knew that this was no egg of hers. She knew that this was a trial for him. She knew his next steps were dependent on her and she relished it as much as a beater relished aiming a bludger at an opposing team. A sadistic enjoyment.  
He shook the thoughts from his head as he was chased, his mind spitting fire that he could believe such nonsense, that a dragon would truly be advanced enough to know the rules of the Triwizard tournament. There was no way...

He grasped the egg before the game had even really begun, raising it in the air like he would a snitch, grinning when an answering roar rose up from the crowds. This was where he belonged. He clutched the egg in triumphant hands, his green eyes sliding from where his friends sat in the booths to where the Horntail had landed behind him, her golden eyes locked onto his once more.

Those yellow eyes bore into his own, causing his hands to slack, forcing his magic to the very surface of his skin until it began to itch, to shiver. Panicked, he tried to look away, to shut his eyes, but he was too far gone. Whatever pull the beast had had on him vanished as swiftly as it had come and left his vision dark, spotted and uneven, until he realised that he was falling into unconsciousness and he had dropped from his broom.

###

"He's waking up!"

"Is he, really? Madam Pomfrey said he'd be out for hours, magical exhaustion. Though how he went and did that to himself, I'll never know. You know, magical exhaustion happens when…"

"'Mione," Harry slurred as he awoke, his vision clearing as he tried to scowl up at the brunette from where he lay in what he presumed was a hospital bed, "I do not need a lecture   
right now."

"Don't need a lecture! Like bloody hell you don't! Frightened the life out of us, you did, Harry! What the bleedin' hell was all that about?"

Harry turned confused eyes on the redhead the sat on his other side, his slowly clearing vision taking in how pale Ron looked, so pale in fact that each of his freckles was standing out. "Are you talking to me again?"

For a moment Ron looked baffled, his mouth agape as he peered down at the smaller man, before he launched into speech. "Of course I bloody well am! After a stunt like that! 'Tis a wonder you survived on your own for so long, just wait 'till Mum hears about this. Merlin, Harry, as if I could ever abandon you, I was a right idiot I know, Mione's gone and told me but I did try warn you about the dragons, didn't I? Now about this egg…"

Harry let Ron prattle on, smiling softly as the redhead began to list off ideas, only for Hermione to shake her head and explain why, in detail, his idea would not work. Harry lay in the bed, his friend's bickering incredibly welcome. He had won, he had done it. He sighed as Madam Pomfrey came towards him with a scowl, shooing Ron aside with a well practiced wave of her hand. He was more than content and willing to forget the strange occurrence that had landed him in the bed in the first place.

###

A week.

He had precisely a week until the next tournament and he had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Harry groaned as he pushed books away from himself and crossed his arms before dropping his head against the table with a soft thump, thankful for a split second for the freak occurrence of his magical exhaustion. He knew it had worried the others of course, random bursts of magical out-lash rarely happened in fourteen-year-olds, and never without just cause. As Hermione had liked to tell him, he really should have been taking it more seriously, especially since it had done something as bizarre as instantly and fully heal his dodgy eyesight. Hell, even Pomfrey hadn't been able to do that in all the times he had asked her. At least now he needn't have the worry of breaking his glasses ever again...

"Are you alright?"

The voice was soft, male but undeniably soft. Had it been any other voice, Harry would not have bothered to respond. This voice, however, was a voice that sparked against the inside of his skull and caused his head to snap up and his green eyes to land on the boy that stood not a foot away from him, a collection of books clutched in his slender arms.  
Harry gazed at the snake crest for only a moment before his eyes darted to the stranger's face. He should know this boy, why should he know this boy?

"Theo" Harry said suddenly, frowning as he lingered on the honey-brown shade of Theodore Nott's hair a second longer than necessary. "You're Theo."

The brown eyed boy looked some place between amused and affronted, and settled in the end for a dainty sniff and a raised eyebrow. "I am well aware of who I am and had I known I was talking to Harry Potter, I wouldn't have bothered with the concern."

Harry couldn't help it; he grinned. The snotty attitude was so obviously a front that it bordered on hysterical. A mask. Why would a Slytherin need a mask to be mean? "I do believe you knew it was me all along, Theo."

The brunette shifted, his cheeks pinking under Harry's stare. With a small sneer he turned on his heel and left, darting one last, curious glance at Harry before exiting the Library. Harry stared at the place where he had vanished long after Hermione came down with her own study work, his head tilted as he tried to recall why he had never felt such an interest in such a shy presence before. Any Slytherin who offered concern instead of haughty remarks was a breath of much needed fresh air.


	2. An Explanation

\--Four Years Later:

He moved swift pale fingers over his clothing, scowling at the moth-eaten edges. One would think that since the defeat of Voldemort that Harry would have had more than enough time to buy new clothes. In essence, that was a lie. He would give his new broom for some time to himself, time to think, time to put the difficulties of the past behind him and stride towards a brighter future.

The only problem with that plan, of course, was that Harry had never really believed he would have a future. The nasty business involving his own soul being a horcrux and his near fatal ending had been a blow, but a blow that he had in some way anticipated. He had always known on some level that he would never make it out of that final battle at Hogwarts alive.

But he had. 

The black haired eighteen-year-old scowled, flinging down one of the larger shirts in favour of another and stuffing both that and his cloak into his suitcase. He latched it shut with a trembling hand, his other rubbing against his temple wearily. He had come away from it alive. Where he should have died, others had instead fallen in his place. Remus… Sirius… Tonks… So many others…

And what of those who hadn't fallen? Who had been dragged to cells and imprisoned in their own homes by the ministry? What could he now do for them, when so few of the wizarding world were willing to believe their actions were done purely out of fear for their families. Had he not come fort only a month ago, Malfoy and his mother would now be spending a lifetime in Azkaban beside the wretched Lucius; and instead the pair had the absolute luxury of being housebound for the foreseeable future, selling what they owned to pay reparations... It wasn't fair...

"You can't save everyone, Harry." The memory of Ginny's voice was sweet in his ear, her smile soft though behind it all he could see the fragile cracks. The cracks he had caused by pushing her away. "I know, Gin, Merlin, I know, but…" Harry had sighed, broken. He had been so very broken in the aftermath of it all, held together only by a stubborn desire to move on, away from it all.

But… He had never finished that sentence. But what? What was expected of him now that he had done what he had been born to do? What could the Slytherins possibly expect from him except the weary forgiveness he had offered, though many of his friends believed him a fool for offering them anything.

He had done it for him. .

Him.

A presence he had not seen in four years, a presence he had only taken notice of once and yet it stayed with him, the brief meeting burning into his daydreams. It was the absence of him that tore at Harry. He had not seen Theodore Nott since the very end of fourth year. Though he had continued to search for any mention, any signs of the boy to the point where his friends believed him obsessed, he had found nothing.

Had the very idea of it not sent a shooting pain through his chest, Harry would have believed the boy dead and end of story.

But he couldn't be dead. He couldn't possibly be just… dead. Just… gone from the world when he had left such a lasting impression. Nott senior had been one of the first to buckle under the ministry's wrath with the fall of Voldemort and even their impressive sources could find no hint of Theo being around for the battle, alive or otherwise.

Harry groaned, his hand dropping from his head and moving instead to card through the black curls atop his own head. They sat in disarray, framing his pale face in an almost childlike way, though one would be very foolish indeed to consider those emerald green eyes anything but the eyes of a war hero pushed nearly to the edge. With a small snort, he pushed his morbid thoughts away. Tugging on his case, he hauled the lot from his bed and made his way down the winding staircase of the Burrow, his home. He inhaled deeply, a smile lighting his face at the scent of cooking that wafted through the kitchen door.

"Morning, Harry,"

He cast his luggage to one side in the already crowded hallway, his eyes flitting towards Hermione as she laid a book atop her own case. Her hair sat softly atop her shoulders, its wildness tamed under Ginny's expert fingers. "mornin', 'Mione, where's everyone?"

"Getting up and dressed I expect," she laughed with a roll of her eyes, "Ginny's still doing her hair and Ron was snoring last time I knocked on his door. Although, from the way Fred and George were whistling, I suspect he'll be up and about in no time."

She cut off with a squeak of surprise as a bang suddenly met their ears, shaking dust from the ceiling and followed by what could only be described as a yell of pain. Harry darted one quick glance upwards, his smile widening despite himself as Fred leaned over the banister and winked in his direction. "And that would be dear Ronald's wake up call."

The pair made their way hastily towards the kitchen as Molly came rushing out in her apron, a wooden spoon already brandished in one hand and murder in her hazel eyes.

###

The train pulled to a stop and with it, the students piled out, the gap between first years and older years now seemed cavernous. Whereas once they had all laughed at the excited chatter of the younger years as they took in the sight of the castle and lake, now the majority of the older years seemed somehow subdued. The seventh years who had returned to finish their schooling cast wary looks around, their hands twitching as if ready to pull their wands in defence at any given moment. It was Luna's presence alone that kept both Harry and Ron from vibrating off the seats of the carriage with the tension.

"Who do you suppose will be teaching us defence this year?" the blonde asked softly, her eyes, though distant, watched as more and more students drew back from the thestrals, their brows creased in confusion. "No idea," Neville supplied as he stretched, sweeping a hand through his collar-length brown hair, "but whoever it is, they would want to be very, very brave."

"You don't suppose Snape will take it over do you? I mean, Slughorn wouldn't give up potions so easily, would he?" Hermione's brown eyes narrowed in thought as they neared the castle, her gaze darting to Harry for the briefest of moments. The dark haired Gryffindor grinned. "It's a miracle that great big bat is alive at all. If he's teaching this year he has my respect. To be honest, I'm more interested in finding out who'll take over for Hagrid. Wasn't he still on paid leave when he sent his letter last week?"

"That he is, mate," Ron nodded as the carriage drew to a stop. The tall red head was the first to leave, his blue eyes bright as he took Hermione's hand to help her down. "From what I heard, he's off on holidays for another year, and rightly so after the things he went through. I still say it should be you on paid leave, Harry." The smaller boy laughed as the group made their way towards the bright castle. "Not bloody likely, who'd look after you and 'Mione?" Luna cast him a small smile and waved as they neared the Great hall, splitting off to find a seat at her own table. Ron snorted as he took his seat, eyeing the table of teachers critically. "I can take care of myself, mate."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, but…"

"Bloody hell!"

Harry jumped as he was interrupted, his eyes snapping open to stare at where Ron was staring. "What? What is it?"

"It's Charlie! What the bloody hell's he doing here! Oi! Charlie!"

Hermione hissed as the red head seated at the professors table glanced at them sharply, his grin all but splitting his tanned face. "Ronald Weasaley! Don't you dare scream into my eardrum again! And at the teacher's table no less!"

Harry snorted as Ron's ears turned a suitable pink and he mumbled an apology, though he perked up as soon as he realised his older brother had stood up and was making his way towards them. "Here he comes!"

Harry shook his head softly as he glanced up and green eyes locked with a familiar pair of blue. A tremor raced up his spine, though whether it was his own magic or the magic he had felt around him from time to time, Harry couldn't tell. He watched through narrowed eyes as Charlie stared at him, a curious tilt to the dragon-tamer's head.

The older redhead pushed into a seat beside his brother, clapping Ron hard enough on the back for him to cough and offering a smile to Hermione. He flicked a curious gaze across the table to where Harry sat, catching his attention. Had Charlie noticed the tremor? Did he know what it meant? "Hello, Harry, haven't seen you since the quidditch world cup."

"Did you, by any chance, feel that too?"

The question left his lips unbidden, a thought that had barely entered his mind before he had pushed it out in innocent curiosity. The tremor was a now constant vibration against his spine, sparking against his own magic in a way that felt delightfully comfortable. He blushed as he realised what he had just said, a hand rising to cover his mouth forcefully. 

"Sorry... I mean..."

Charlie, however, merely laughed. Ignoring Ron's frown at Harry and Hermione's instant curiosity, he offered a hand to the smaller Gryffindor. For a moment, Harry didn't want to take it. His stomach clenched as he held out a hand of his own and clasped the redhead's. He hissed as a spark of unknown magic raced up his arm and drew back with a glare at the older Weasley.

"Sorry, Harry," Charlie laughed, "had to make sure. I'll be damned, I'm surprised no one told me there was another in the family. Was it the Horntail then? That beast had her eye on you from the start."

"What are you talking about?" Harry interrupted with a frown, his gaze darted to Ron as if searching for back up that his brother was insane. "The Horntail? Who should have told you what?"

Charlie stared at him, until understanding lit his features and he offered Harry a sad smile. "Oh," he sighed, "you don't know." Harry growled at the statement, clenching his hand softly. 

"Don't know what?"

"You, Harry, are a Destined. A Dragonette Destined to be perfectly precise." Ron made a small sound at the back of his throat, wide eyes shooting to his brother. 

"What?" he shrieked, drawing the attention of the younger years that had begun to gather around them. "Are you insane, Charlie? You think I wouldn't know if my friend were a Destined?"

"Ron! Shut up!" Hermione snapped suddenly, her voice a sharp whisper in comparison to Ron's blatant yell. "This makes sense! Don't you see? his desire to constantly be around us, his family, the way he took the deaths of the others, the way he pushed Ginny away without even realising it!" There was excitement in her voice, as though she had been trying to figure out a puzzle for a long time, and had suddenly found the missing piece. "This explains why his magic keeps lashing out at all those suitors that were trying to harass him in Diagon, he couldn't recognise them as a mate!"

As clarity hit Ron like a brick, he let out a groan of understanding and clapped a hand over his face. "I never even thought… All those years wondering what was up with his mood swings and I went through the blasted same thing with Charlie! Damn it, I never made the connection! No one made the blasted connection! To think… "

The excited chattering of the pair was brought to an abrupt end as a streak of magic suddenly latched around Ron's wrist and dragged him closer to his brother. "Enough!" Charlie scowled, "you've terrified him!" Ron's blue eyes shot to where his friend was sitting, taking in the confusion in those green eyes and the way Harry had paled. "Aw, no, mate I'm sorry," he sighed, "I'm useless at this."

"I'll say," Charlie agreed with a snort, casting a wary glance towards the top table before blue eyes once more landed on Harry. "There are things you need to be told Harry and I promise you though they may seem like a lot, it's not bad. Will you walk with me?"

Harry cast his friends a weary glance, for once in his life, uncertain whether he wanted their knowledge to be shared with him. With a sigh he rose up slowly and made to follow the redhead, but not before a shout from Ron drew them back.

"Oi! What are you doing in Hogwarts anyway?"

Charlie offered a small smile and a bow. "I am your new Care Of Magical Creatures professor and you may call me sir."


	3. An Unnecessary Complication

Harry sat, or rather slouched in the seat he had been offered, his arms crossed and a scowl fixed on his lips. It wasn't that Harry didn't like Charlie. Though they had only met once before, Charlie was family, and therefore above the temper Harry would have happily unleashed had it been anyone else that had just taken him away from the welcoming feast and forced him into a crowded office.

But it wasn't anybody else. This wasn't a death eater trying to kill him, nor was it a teacher he disliked. It was just plain old Charlie Weasley; a man whose magic was sparking up against Harry's own in a way that set his teeth on edge.

"Charlie, what are you?"

The redhead grinned as he flicked his wand towards the fire grate, causing a sudden eruption of flames. It was the heat that drew the stoney expression from Harry's face and caused his folded arms to slack. "So glad you asked, Harry," Charlie replied happily, before plonking himself down on the desk. He held out his arm, his eyes closing briefly in concentration as a small glow rose the surface of his skin, a visible magic that drew Harry like a moth to a flame.

The green eyed boy gaped, his mouth opening as he unfurled cold fingers and skimmed them across the glow. It sparked against him, almost painful, like a collision of energies. 

"What is this?"

Charlie opened his eyes slowly, his brow furrowed in concentration. "This, Harry, this is dragon magic."

Harry watched the glow begin to recede with almost a pang of sadness, the warmth of the fire suddenly not enough. "I don't understand." He whispered.

"I hadn't thought you would," Charlie answered back with a small smile, "but showing you now may give you more of an open mind to what I'm about to tell you. You see, Harry, I'm what's often called in the wizarding world, a Dragonette Destined. I don't suppose you've ever heard of a Dragonette, have you? It's not something often taught in Hogwarts."

Harry shook his head slowly, his gaze darting towards the older man's arm as if expecting the glow to return once more, half-wishing it would. "No. I haven't."

"I see." Charlie sighed, before moving to sit in the seat across from the eighteen-year-old. "A dragon is a powerful creature, Harry. Many think they're mindless beasts, while others worship them as powerful beings, capable of thought and speech and power. Neither mindset is really the correct one, but rather a balance of the two. A dragon is a creature, but a creature with enough self-thought and intelligence to know when change must be forced. There's a legend in wizarding lore of a dragon known as Shira. Shira was smarter than her brethren, intelligent beyond what was thought capable and for that, she was feared.

Men had stolen her, kept her trapped in a cave with horrific chains and weapons. They robbed her of her blood and her scales until she grew weak. She was dying. But there were others trapped in that cave with her, men and women who were robbed from their homes for being witches, for siding with the devil. Our people, Harry. Wizards and witches captured and killed by muggles during the burning times.

Shira knew that she was dying, and it grieved her that she would never have a family of her own, nor that the men and women trapped with her would ever be free. With tremendous courage, Shira sacrificed herself before the men could kill her and drove her magic, her memories and her very soul into each of the wizards and witches imprisoned in that cave."

Charlie's eyes darkened, his forehead creased as he watched the floor, almost as though he had forgotten Harry. "Some were killed. The strength, the transformation was too much to handle and their magical cores simply could not support it. They died horrible deaths, but those who survived, became something different entirely. They were creatures, a perfect blend of wizard and dragon with only two forms; that of the hybrid and that of the dragon. These creatures were called Dragonettes and they broke free of their prison.  
They formed circles, mateships of their own with others like them and with humans. They lived in peace for a while, some becoming allies, becoming something stable; but chaos slowly broke out. The mateships with more than one Dragonette would fight, battle until there was only one, too driven by instinct to prove that they were dominant. Over time, it became clear that the humans would never bear the young of the dragonettes and so they struck a deal with their full-blooded Dragon cousins. Should a man or woman prove themselves worthy, they would be infused with only a fraction of dragon magic and become the mates capable of holding a mateship together. They would become Destined."

The silence was a heavy one, filled with a tension that snapped as Harry did, his head rearing up in confusion. "I don't understand... why are you telling me this? What's going on, Charlie, really?"

The redhead smiled, reaching a hand out and grabbing Harry's arm before the Gryffindor could react. He dragged nails down pale skin, leaving a well of red, raised scratches behind. A small glow lit the space marked by the redhead's fingers before snapping out and Charlie drew back with a hiss, shaking his hand as though it had been shocked. He huffed a laugh "Sorry, if you don't know how to use it, the magic tends to only surface if you're in need of it."

Harry remained immobile, his gaze fixed on his own arm. That hadn't been his usual magic, but an unfamiliar yellow similar to the glow that had been coming from Charlie's   
arm only moments ago. Green eyes snapped up to watch the second eldest Weasley, his head shaking in denial. "I'm not." he croaked hoarsely.

"You are, Harry." Charlie sighed, "I know you'd rather not believe it but you are a Destined. Though the legend may be only a story, we are not and the Dragonettes are a very real species. You are a Destined. Dominant or submissive, it doesn't matter, you are destined to be the mate of Dragonette. You'll never be happy with anybody else."

"You're lying!" Harry yelled, his green eyes shining as he stood swiftly, knocking over the chair behind him. "I can't be! I'm not!"

A light sparked in Charlie's eyes before he stood, pacing towards the smaller man. He growled low in his throat. "You are." He said lowly, "the Horntail saw fit to give you this blessing and you had better accept that or you will be driven insane. Oh, Harry, why else would your magic recoil each time someone tried to touch you? Does that not sound familiar? Isn't that why you and Gin couldn't make a go of it? Each time she so much as held your hand, the dragon magic in you would shock her. I know well, Harry, I went through the very same thing myself. It's a part of you, it's who you were meant to be. Don't run away from it, Harry. It's a gift..."

"I don't want it." Harry had little idea that his eyes had begun to leak, leaving a trail of tears down flushed cheeks. Normality. It was what he craved, what he desired beyond all else. And now it had been taken from him, stolen from him years before he had even a chance to wish for it. "Why... Why would it..."

He choked on his words, the reality of what Charlie had said sinking slowly into his mind. The older man looked stricken, before pulling him into an embrace and shushing him softly. "It isn't a bad thing, little brother," he whispered. Harry hiccupped a soft laugh at the title, nodding his head. He was the little brother. He had help in this, he had someone who could explain this, who could control this. If Charlie had been through all this before then Harry would have someone to go to. 

Was it really so bad? A soft, small part of himself whispered. Was it truly the worst thing in the world to be special, to be needed by someone else? He was so sick and tired of someone else expecting something from him though... So worn down from being needed that he just wanted... He wanted...

"I have a choice, right?" he demanded, his green eyes suddenly narrowed, "I'm not going to have to notify the ministry and be foisted upon the first person that comes?"

Charlie rumbled a laugh, standing back to open the door for the suspicious Gryffindor. "Naturally, Harry," he chuckled, "we're wizards with a bigger spark of magic, not criminals. Of course you have a choice."

Harry nodded slowly as he watched Charlie shut the door behind him and start towards the great hall. With any luck, dinner would still be in progress. As they walked, Charlie spoke to him in soft tones. "The Dragonettes have gatherings. Get-ogethers every few months where they meet family and old friends and new friends. All destined are encouraged to come. They spend days there, in a village designed especially for Dragonette mateships or a campsite out in the open. Granted, with the war there hasn't been one in Britain in about twelve years, but there will be one at Yule in Briha."

"Briha?" Harry asked as they neared the hall, the sounds of voices and the clatter of plates bringing a small smile to his mouth. Charlie nodded. "Yupp, Briha. It's a village not far from here, actually, by the coast. I was thinking of going," his gaze flittered to Harry, "you're welcome to come..."

The offer was one that tempted him, despite his best attempts to convince himself that he wanted nothing more than to remain at Hogwarts. There was something missing at Hogwarts, something... someone he was certain he would not find here. Though he was even more certain he would not find whoever he was looking for at a Dragonette meeting, it was an escape he suddenly needed.

"Yes," he said with a brief grin, before rounding the corner into the hall, he turned sincere eyes on Charlie. "And thank you."

The man he considered a brother merely smiled, and offered him a small salute before heading towards the staff table. Harry slid into his seat with a sigh. Dragging a plate of mince pie form the near empty table, he spooned a mouthful and brought the food to his open mouth, his gaze darting upward for only a split second to find that both Ron and Hermione had him pinned with identical looks of curiosity.

Harry groaned as he shoved the spoonful into his mouth, it was going to be a long night.


	4. Briha

"How can you tell if you're dominant or submissive?"

Charlie groaned as he was roused, once again, from near-sleep by the curious voice beside him. He ran his fingers through thick, red hair, shooting his younger brother a determined glare as he straightened in his seat.

He sighed as he glanced out the darkening window of the train carriage, his blue eyes focused on the horizon as they steadily approached their destination. "Until you are exposed to Dragonettes and others like you, it's impossible to know, Harry," Charlie said softly, clasping his hands on his stomach, "your instincts will come out in Briha, especially as soon as you meet your first Dragonette. It is said that submissive Destined are chosen because they've suffered great abuse and trauma in their pasts and are therefore in need of protection. The dominant destined are those who have shown great bravery and loyalty and are therefore deemed the protector."

"And it is the submissive that bare children. Men and all?"

Charlie chuckled as he glanced up into wide green eyes. "Men and all. It's the magic of the dragon, Harry. A submissive will bare children for their Dragonette and for the dominants they feel most attached to. You see, a Dragonette will always form a mateship. They will always have more than one other. Though each person is loved equally, ties are formed by the submissives. They will usually adore all their dominants, but bonds are formed between submissives and dominants too. It's the way of the magic, I can't really explain it any better."

Harry nodded softly, his black curls scuffing against his collar as he turned to stare from the window. Charlie could not deny that the discovery of what he was had done wonderful things to his younger brother. Harry's green eyes all but sparkled against the pale flush of his face and his once lank hair looked sleek. He was a good looking lad, despite the weariness that clung to his tight shoulders stubbornly. 

"Why do you go to these gatherings Charlie?"

The question was soft, lest it offend the dragon-tamer, but Charlie merely laughed. "I know I said I've no interest in joining a mateship at the moment, and you may feel the same, but I adore being around others like me, Harry. I love knowing that my dragon magic can rise to the surface and lash out without hurting others. They are a happy bunch, is our kin."

"Well, it seems unlikely that they will welcome me, then isn't it? I'm not at all happy."

Charlie tsked, moving from his chair to wrap one solid arm around Harry's thin shoulders. "Which is exactly why I am taking you Harry. You're far too depressing lately."

The smaller man snorted before a grin tugged one corner of his mouth upwards in a soft smile. "Cheers."

###

"How about a drink before bed, Harry?"

The younger of the pair frowned as he tugged his bag up from the station floor and made his way behind the whistling Charlie. "I suppose… but isn't it a bit late?"

"This coming from the boy who was best known for avoiding curfew?"

"Point taken."

They made their way through the darkened village easily, Harry's knotted shoulders dropping with each empty street they passed. It seemed as though the dragons were all sleeping, or hidden away for the night. Harry sighed and shut his eyes. In the very near distance, just beyond the dark houses and smokey inns he could hear the gentle slosh of the ocean. Merlin, how he loved that sound.

"Come on, little brother," Charlie whispered with a smile, pushing Harry before him into the open archway of a small inn lit with soft lights. The smell of wine and the crackling of magic hit Harry so suddenly his knees buckled and he would have dropped in the middle of the pub had a strong hand not grasped his own arm.

He snapped his head upwards as magic curled around his arm almost possessively, his wide green eyes locking with a frosty blue gaze.

"My apologies, Myvi. I hadn't realised the place was still half full. Harry's newly turned, I'm afraid." Harry was aware of Charlie behind him, his large hand offering a calm support on his shoulder, yet he couldn't seem to bring himself to tear his gaze away from the woman called Myvi.

She was taller than he was, her arms strong but slender and her blonde hair cropped short. Her near flawless face was marked only by a single scar that ran across her nose and disrupted the freckles there. "H…Hello."

The blonde's frozen face broke in a small smile before she nodded and gently released his arm. She turned from him to take a seat once more beside the roaring fire, clearly alone. It sent a pang so close to sadness through Harry that he frowned. Why should he feel sadness for a woman alone? Why should he feel anything at all for a stranger?  
He turned slowly towards Charlie's voice, his eyes reluctant to leave the tall form of Myvi as she ran pale fingers over the rim of the glass she clutched in her right hand. He shook his head with a growl. What was the matter with him?

"One drink, Charlie," he muttered as he made his way to the bar, "one drink then we're going to our rooms."

###

Myvi smirked as she watched the young Destined stumble his way up the staircase, the redheaded dominant behind him laughing at the state the youngling had gotten himself into.

Harry, wasn't that what Charlie had called him?

She knew of Charlie, the dominant that had yet to find a Dragonette that suited him, and so it was safe to assume that Harry did not belong with him. Even safer to assume by the barely worked scent of his magic that Harry was unmarked by any Dragonette. For the first time in many years, Myvi was most disappointed that Baro had not finished his night-time walk earlier. She was certain he would have been most captivated by the little destined.

She smiled softly as she ran her fingertip over the glass rim, for once blind to the small scars that littered her hand as a sudden scent washed over her and a man poured himself into the armchair by her side. The inn was winding down now, its glowing lights dimmer and its fires crackling to nothing.

"What has you so happy, my dearest flower?"

The voice was dark, as thick as velvet in the dim lighting of the seating area. Black clad legs longer than her own crossed gracefully and a white-shirt clad torso, lean and slender, bent towards her curiously. Even sitting down, Baro towered above her. The youngling would barely reach his ribcage. The thought made her smile split further.

Pale fingers traced her chin softly, tilting it upwards until her gaze was forced to rest on eyes the shade of a violet sky. Dark eyebrows arched in amusement, his head tilted to the side and a cascade of scarlet curls falling down his front. She smiled softly, her jagged scar wrinkling where it met her lip.

"I've met someone."


	5. Magic Is Simple

Harry awoke to sunshine. It lit his room with a soft glow, pre-morning yellow. The thin curtains had been pulled back by his own hands during the night, whilst he had been delirious enough to think such a wake up call would be a fantastic idea. What a twat.

He groaned as he rolled to his side and from the ruffled sheets of the bed, his feet landing soundly and quietly on the floor. He stretched the length of his body as he moved to stand straight, his pale arms reaching above him in a feeble move to touch the high ceiling. With a huff of satisfaction, he shook his black curls from his face and blinked bleary emerald eyes towards the window.

Sounds were already beginning to clutter the small village so early in the morning. He heard shrieks of children racing back and forth and the jostle of clothing and supplies as people made their way from their homes and temporary rooms to find something to do with the day. He smiled, a sudden excitement hitting his tired self. Something different, something new. He was turning to reach for his jeans, when the side door linking his own room to Charlie's was forced open and a child taller than Harry himself suddenly burst into the room.

The boy looked no more than fourteen, his boyish features still round and his blonde hair still silken from youth. He stared at Harry with large, blue eyes only enhanced by the littering of small scales across his cheek bones. Harry loosened his grip on his wand, popping it easily back into his arm holster when a soft grin was quirked in his direction.

"Dagda, you little brat!" Charlie cursed as he made his way into the room, fully dressed. He hauled the youth from where he stood over his shoulder, paying no mind to the young man's cry of indignation. "Didn't I tell you to knock and wait, not barge in on him?"

"I wanted to see the famous Harry Potter! He's a Hero!" Dagda announced with a small laugh as Charlie heaved him further onto his shoulder. The boy's voice was a growl, low and sleek and distinctly inhuman and for reasons he could not comprehend, Harry edged away from it. Dagda caught the movement as he was placed back on his feet, his blue eyes narrowing curiously even as Charlie spoke.

"Yes well, you've had your fun, so off with you and let Harry get dressed. So sorry, Harry, I haven't seen him and his mother in so long and they're old friends of mine. Had I any idea he'd grown into such an ass, I'd have woken you myself rather than sent him up."

Dagda snorted, stretching his arms above himself to show a dusting of scales across his lower abdomen. "Ass, perhaps, but I am a Dragonette, I have some dignity!" he turned with a huff towards Harry and bowed awkwardly, "You'll have to forgive me my abrupt appearance!" he spoke the last to Harry, his tone older now than it had been only moments ago. "I'm young, still coping with changes and I do often forget to act human."

Harry licked his lips, shaking his head with a soft smile. "No problem."

Dagda offered him one final smile, before sticking his tongue out at Charlie childishly and all but sprinting from the room. Charlie growled before throwing an order at Harry to get dressed and taking off after the high-spirited Dagda.

###

"Shouldn't he at least be wearing padding?"

Harry flinched as he watched Dagda get thrown to the side, only to snarl and snap back his ivory-coloured wings before darting towards the other Dragonette once again.

"Hmm? Oh no, he's perfectly fine. They're only playing." Dagda's mother, Sibeal, was a submissive destined, with blonde locks as silken as her son's and a soft smile that set Harry at ease. She watched her son slice at the other boy with one razor-sharp wing with a small shake of her head. "It's one of the best ways to get rid of all that childish energy, so to speak. Not to mention the fact that they're becoming young men and this is the first step to attracting attention, thus guaranteeing them their pick of mates."

Harry frowned, wincing as Dagda managed to leap bodily atop the other Dragonette and pin him to the ground by locking sharp teeth around the fallen creature's throat. He cast a wary glance around, searching for Charlie in case the two young dragons lost control, but the redhead was no where to be found. Harry had last seen him near an hour ago after Charlie had told him to stay by Sibeal and have fun in the crowded streets of Briha. All that surrounded him now were destined, mateships, frantic children and young Dragonettes searching for a mate.

Harry shifted his gaze back to the small fighting circle the two friends had leaped into only minutes ago. The blue dragon let loose a whine of defeat before tossing Dagda off and shifting to his hybrid form as he got to his feet. It was seamless, a flow from one creature to the next that made Harry almost doubt his eyes.

"No fair, Dagda," the child pouted as he watched the blonde shake free of his own dragon-form, "You know that's my weak leg."

"All the more reason for you to work on perfecting that move," Dagda responded lazily, shifting his shoulders in an attempt to settle his wings once more against his spine. His facial scales crinkled in discomfort and he let loose a sudden whine as he looked down at his awkwardly bent shoulder. Harry sighed and took pity on the boy.

"Hold still," he ordered as he made his way into the circle, "It looks like you've dislocated one of the top joints, I don't suppose there's a medic near?" 

Dagda grit his teeth. "In the time it takes to find one in these streets, I'll be a blubbering mess, just put it back, Harry, please."

Harry cast one swift glance towards Sibeal, whose frown had begun to draw down in worry, before snapping the joint back into place. Dagda let loose a yelp of pain, higher than his usual growl, before shrugging his shoulders in relief and casting Harry a small smile.

The smaller man sent Dagda from the soft circle in the stone path before taking a step forward himself, only for a jolt of electricity to spark against his spine. He froze at the invisible contact, his nose lifting to scent the air in a move that was purely instinctual and un-thought of. His eyes narrowed, scanning the crowd of faces around him. No features there perked his interest, nor could he find the eyes that matched such a wonderful spark of magic. Who was it? He shivered where he stood, his breath leaving his mouth in soft, seeking gasps. Whose magic was that, that felt both familiar and new? 

"Harry?"

Green eyes flickered upwards to meet blue. Charlie.

"Harry, are you alright?"

He opened his mouth to speak. Of course, he was alright. He had never in his life felt better. The magic that had just brushed against him had jolted his system, given him something to feel after so long of feeling nothing. He parted his lips as another jolt of magic wrapped around his shoulders, tugging him backwards. A soft whine escaped him.

Charlie's blue eyes seemed to darken, his own gaze darting up to search the crowd, before he took a step back. "Keep calm, Harry. Don't think so much about it and you'll find whoever it is you're looking for."

The green-eyed Gryffindor frowned, confusion evident even in the haze of contentment that surrounded him. He felt a body, much taller than his own press against his back, lean arms moving to wrap around his slender form. He arched into the embrace, all but purring as the scent and feel of the stranger's magic curled around his own, sparking against his own and forcing it to the surface. This was a stranger in every sense Harry knew of the word, but he brought his hand up without a measure of hesitation to grasp his nails into the arm around him. He clung tight, breath panicked. There was something in this person's magic that his own was latching onto with everything that he was. 

Don't, something inside him was all but screaming, don't let go... Please don't let go... Please...

A soft sob broke from his lips, only for the noise to be hushed by a gentle hum, a man's hum. He tilted back his head, his mouth slipping open as he was met with a pair of bright, violet eyes and a mass of scarlet hair that blocked out the other faces of the crowd around them. "Who…?"

The man's lips tilted into a warm smile, the scarlet scales of his throat as visible as a slash of blood. "My name is Baro, little one, and I was hoping you would give me the pleasure of courting you… Beautiful submissive."


	6. An Adventure

Harry scowled from where he sat.

Each question thrown in his direction was answered only by a snarl, his vocal chords and sarcasm seeming to have escaped him.

"Such aggression, one would think the little brute had just been kidnapped and thrown into a crate."

Harry hissed.

A throaty chuckle from directly behind him sent vibrations thrumming along his spine and he bowed back discreetly against the contact, his anger seeming almost childish. 

Fluttering green eyes snapped open and Harry reared forward once more, only for a pair of strong arms to hold him down in his seat on a stranger's lap.

Charlie shook his head from where the traitor sat in an armchair across from the pair, a small smile on his lips. "Really, Harry, I don't see why you're fighting so hard with yourself. One minute you're blissfully happy and the next you're trying to get away from someone who you want. I don't know Baro personally, but Myvi is a fine, powerful dominant and any mateship she lands herself in can be said to be the same."

"Quite right, Charlie," The blonde Myvi sat beside Charlie, her dark eyes cast downwards and avoiding Harry's gaze even as her magic slid across him, wrapping him in a blanket of warmth. He felt his eyes slide shut once more, basking for one incredible moment in the solid comfort this strange pair were offering him. He hadn't felt such peace in a long, long time.

And why should he? His thoughts grew bitter even as their strange magic tried to comfort him, his mind playing scenes from his past that haunted him still. It was because of him that death came to those around him, it was because of him that family members were lost and nightmares terrorised his classmates. He felt his own magic prickle against his skin, a vain attempt to block against the harsher memories. He knew now that this was not his magic, but the magic gifted to him by a stubborn Horntail, a magic that had all but torn him apart when he had tried to reject Baro only moments before.

The Dragonette that gripped him so tightly made a noise as though in pain, his strong arms wrapping securely around Harry as wings unfolded softly from his back. Before the dark-haired Gryffindor could comprehend what had happened, he was entirely cocooned in a scaled hollow the colour of blood red. The wings shielded him entirely, cutting off the world so that nothing existed but the gentle breathing of the man behind him.

Were those wings always visible? Harry cocked his head to one side, a soft, curious noise leaving his mouth. Baro rumbled a soft laugh behind him. "Are you so fresh, submissive that you have never even seen a Dragonettte's wings up close? Have I snatched you from your cradle?"

The offended berate Harry intended to spit out never left his lips, instead a delicate snarl curled his upper lip. Words had abandoned him. Just as Charlie had explained, he had tried to run from something that his Destined side had deemed perfection, and he was paying the consequences by having to deal with the loss of some of his humanity, at least for a while. What an absolute pain in the...

Baro turned him suddenly in his lap, until wide green eyes met a slanted, violet gaze with a pupil so narrow, it almost wasn't there. Harry felt a blush creep along his neck, unable to look away. Baro was clearly more than a man. Where Dagda had been almost human- looking apart from the pale scales that littered his features, Baro was not. His gaze was that of a cat's, narrow apart from when something of interest captivated it and blew those slit-like pupils wide. His skin was a touch too pale, its strange warmth a sharp contrast against the icy whiteness. His blood red hair was a colour Harry had never seen on anyone and matched the horizontal slash of scales across his slender throat to perfection.

A quiet rumble had filled their small space and it took longer than he was willing to admit for Harry to realise that he was, in fact, purring. A deep, contented sound that lulled his inner turmoil and provoked an answering rumble from the creature... man... his magic clung to with a desperation.

"So rare is it, pretty submissive, for a bond to occur so suddenly and so deeply as the one that is now between us. I had only to see you from a distance to know that all that I could ever become, would never be enough without you by my side. Your magic clings to me still, so desperately that I can feel the pain in your thoughts. Such a bond should only exist after months of being together. My Myvi has been captivated by you ever since she has laid eyes on you. Why is it you fight something so natural, Harry?"

Baro's voice was exquisite, not the harsh growl of a possessive creature, but the low, silken tones of one lover to another, as thought intimacy lived in the Dragonette's very blood flow. Harry keened at the sound, a shrill cry that he was certain would have sounded as embarrassing even if it had come in the form of babbling words. He had fought his entire life. Every step of his growing older he had fought possession. He had fought the teachers that were supposed to help him, he had fought slander against his name and fought physically year after year just to stay alive. How could he willingly surrender to something he knew hardly nothing about?

And at the same time, how could he not?

How could he possibly keep fighting… Why should he keep fighting? He was done fighting, done protecting others; why not simply…give in?

Give in... To something altogether different. Why not? For once in his life, why not listen to the instincts that wanted him to be just a little selfish. Instincts that were howling at him to trust, and be trusted. He could just... 

With a broken little sigh, Harry twisted his head to the side, baring his neck to the stranger in a show of submission that felt incredibly... right. 

Baro waited only a moment, those violet eyes locked on Harry's own before sharp teeth closed around Harry's throat in a soft, short bite.

His.

###

"McGonagall's gonna kill me."

"This is true."

Harry growled in aggravation, swatting the taller redhead on the head as Charlie bent to grab his luggage. The older Weasley boy laughed as he clutched Harry to his side with one arm and ruffled the black curls atop his friend's head. "Hey, if anyone's gonna get in trouble, it'll be me for allowing this. Paranoid old bat will probably think old Voldy's risen from the dead, donned a red wig and lured you into a trap."

Harry cast a skeptical glance towards where Baro stood, bidding goodbye to a friend of his own who had also come here by train. Myvi stood beside him, her slender arms crossed and a humoured eyebrow quirked in their direction. Clearly she had heard them.

Harry glanced back at Charlie with a twisted smile, one hand rising to tug at the lengthening curls nervously. "Do you think I'm making a mistake, Charlie?"

The redhead laughed as he boarded the platform. "Hell, Harry, I think this is the first decent move you've ever made for yourself. So what if you never come back to Hogwarts, Merlin knows you'll always be welcome there and you've already sat your exams. By wizarding standards, you should be out of school and forming your own life."

The older wizard bent down suddenly, his smile rueful as he leaned in to whisper in Harry's ear. "And by Dragonette standards a submissive like you should have been whipped up and knocked up years ago."

"Charlie!"

Harry's horrified hiss was cut off by the train's piercing whistle and the redhead slamming the carriage door shut with a wide smile. His head appeared only a moment later out a window, his eyes soft. "You've earned this, little brother. You've earned the right to dictate your life and I'll make sure no one in the family or at Hogwarts gives you grief." Harry laughed as the train began to move forward, his head shaking in amusement even as his knees began to knock together.

"You'll let Ron and Mione know I'll see them soon and I'm alright? And you'll let Mum know that I'm coming back to visit her?

Charlie's voice was clearly heard over the chorus of goodbyes on the station.

"As soon as I tell Mum, she'll have the cot down from the attic!"

And though Harry was quick to laughter at the thought, as soon as the train sped away and he was left only with the memory of that smiling redhead, the eighteen-year-old's nerves got the best of him and he raised a hand to cover the tears now sliding down his cheeks.

###

Harry woke slowly in a moving vehicle, so disorientated by the bright sunshine and the vibrations of the car that he yelped and whacked his head against the window. A moan of sympathy reached his ears as he clutched his throbbing skull and he opened one eye to find Myvi eyeing him critically, her hands twitching as though she wanted nothing more than to check his head for cuts.

"M'fine," he mumbled, sparing the taller woman a small smile. Mortified that he had fallen asleep, and further infuriated with himself for hopping his head, but he was, otherwise, fine. He watched the woman nod and turn back around in the front passenger seat. Myvi was a female who utterly enthralled him. In the few days he and Charlie had spent at Briha, Myvi had seen fit to drag the broader redhead into battle on more than one occasion, and she had always won. Strength, she had whispered to Harry on the nights when the pair were alone and walking, lay not in the muscles but in the speed which one used them. 

She was a creature almost apart from her humanity, as though she had been a Dragonette clipped of its wings, though that was not the case. Myvi had simply been one of the fortunate ones to grow up in village in France lived in only by Dragonettes and their mateships. Born human and with five older brothers to prove her strength to, three of whom were Dragonettes, Myvi had sought out battle with a bitter old dragon miles from her home, and had survived to become a Destined. It was as she told Harry this story that the blonde beauty had tapped the vicious scar that marred her features and winked with only the words "never wake a sleeping dragon" as warning.

Green eyes hazy with sleep blinked around the car, before landing on the driver. Baro. His dominant. A shiver raced up Harry's spine and he froze when Baro's violet gaze caught his in the rear-view mirror. The circular mark that graced Harry's neck pulsed once before he dragged his eyes away. Nothing but that first, heated kiss had passed between them, nor would anything until Harry had been completely exposed to the rest of Baro's mateship, or so the taller man had insinuated. It was, as Charlie had explained, Dragonette custom for an Intended Destined to meet all members of the mateship before they could be accepted completely.

Of course, Myvi had snorted at that and eyed Harry's mark obviously, stating only that one so quick to bond with both Baro and form an attachment to herself would have no problem blending it with the other two.

Not that Harry was as worried as, perhaps, he should have been about meeting the people he would, evidently, share a life with. Since that first kiss of acceptance, Harry's protests at falling for a stranger and perhaps racing headfirst into a trap had been feeble at best, and doused completely each time he would catch the eye of either of the people he was now, after so short a time, beginning to view as his own. It was evidence enough of his complete trust in the pair that he had decided not to return to Hogwarts, but to return with Baro to a secluded town just north of the Scotland border. Or maybe he was just going bonkers. It was about time for it, to be fair...

"Where are we?"

"Almost home, Harry," Myvi's soft voice was quick to answer him, her mouth curving into a soft smile at the word home. "You slept from the moment we left Briha for quite some time, Baro and I have traded places driving twice now."

At Harry's worried frown, she offered a small smile, her hand reaching out to brush back his black curls in a way that he had become overly fond of. "Fear not, little one, it is only because of the sudden detachment from one you view as blood that you slept so long. Your magic is attempting to distance you from old ties so that you may form new ones."

"Distancing me?"

"Hush, Myvi," Baro's silken voice rose from the front seat, soothing Harry's sudden spike of panic, "You'll frighten him. She means not to say that you will become detached from your family , Harry, but rather that your heart will swell with the need to be filled with a new family as well as your previous one."

"Oh," Harry prodded the spot where he had smacked against the window, wincing slightly. "And don't call me, little one, Myvi, it makes me sound like a kid."

Myvi's laughter was every bit as big and attractive as she was, an endearing chuckle that made Harry grin. "Forgive me, Harry," she grinned as she glanced out the window at the passing countryside, nothing but green fields and towering hills, "it is only because you're smaller even than our Erin and he is indeed a small submissive."

"Erin?" Harry's attention peeked, his green eyes turning to lock with Baro's gaze as he flickered towards his in the mirror. "That's your other submissive's name? Erin. And what of the other dominant then? How come they didn't come to Briha?"

Baro let loose a throaty chuckle, his gaze returning to the road as they passed a sign welcoming them to a village Harry had never heard of.

"I told you before, Harry, your opinion of the two mates you have not yet met will not be painted by what Myvi and myself say. You will meet them shortly. All that I will tell you is that Erin could not travel for he is in the final stages of pregnancy and our dearest young dominant offered to stay with him and allow Myvi the chance to travel to Briha and battle to her heart's content."

Harry opened his mouth to demand more information, and was hushed when the car stopped suddenly and he fell face first into the cushioned headrest of the passenger seat.

He growled as he pushed himself upright, Baro's tilted smile following his actions in the mirror. "You did that on purpose."

Myvi snorted as she moved from the car, reaching her arms upwards until they let out a satisfying crack. "'Tis no fault of his that you chose to clamber over your safety belt and demand answers, green-eyes."

Harry would have answered her retort with one just as snarky, had his attention not suddenly been forced from the female dominant. The house they had parked in front of was a pristine white, though calling it a house was almost an insult. It was a manor, so beautifully clean and covered with vibrant green ivy that it almost shone. The windows of it had been cast open, meaning the house would be blessedly cool after so long being confined to a heated car under a bizarrely hot winter sun.

Other houses dotted the area, some large and some small enough to be considered barely a cottage and each of them was beautiful, though none so enchanting as this manor with its purple willows that marked the edges of its front garden.

Harry's mouth was open as Myvi pulled him from his seat, his eyes huge. He inhaled the scents of the willows as he passed, paying no mind to Myvi tugging him towards the manor like some half-witted child. He'd never smelled anything so sweet as those willows. Somewhere in his mind, he was aware of Myvi chuckling at him and snapped to attention. The door of the manor had been swung open by Baro, his pale hands grasping his hips as he looked around the huge entrance-way in search of something. Harry frowned, his pulse picking up speed as Myvi shut the door behind them, leaving their luggage in the car for now and locking Harry into unknown territory. For the first time in his life, Harry took a step behind the taller female, half-hiding.

The something Baro had been waiting for occurred only seconds later when there was a sound much like a tray dropping to a wooden table and the soft scurrying of feet across floorboards. A man came rushing into the room, or, at least, Harry assumed it was a man, for he was dressed clearly in men's clothes and his face, though soft and young was definitely male. His stomach, however, was swollen with what could only be a child and his pale blonde hair twisted down to the backs of his legs in a loose plait.

He shrieked as he saw Baro, his blue eyes blowing wide and his legs rushing forward to propel him into the taller man's arms. Baro embraced him with a laugh, lifting him from his feet and cradling the swollen stomach between them so as not to do damage. "Oh, my Erin, my beautiful Erin how I've missed you."

And though he expected jealousy, though he expected to feel a pang of envy for this beautiful creature that Baro treasured so evidently, Harry did not. He watched the blonde smile as he was put back on his feet, his small hands wrapping around his stomach as he wrinkled his snub nose in amusement at what Baro was saying, and he was infatuated. Something in this small man glowed, as though no matter how hard one looked, they would never find a happier person.

Of course, it would be at that moment, when Harry was staring so obviously, that Erin would choose to turn and greet Myvi, his blue eyes immediately snapping towards where Harry was peering around Myvi's folded arms. Erin's smile vanished, his pale gaze full of questions as he stepped forward. Harry held still even as Myvi stepped aside, moving only to tilt his head back and keep eye contact when the blonde moved within breathing distance of him. A sliver of annoyance raced through him as he stared up into pale blue eyes. Was he taller than anybody anymore? Erin closed his eyes and inhaled, his lips breaking into a lazy grin as he pushed forth a tendril of magic, only for Harry's own magic to wrap prettily around his, like two lovers that had been too long apart.

Before the smaller submissive could protest, lips were against his own and Erin's soft, lazy grin was now pressing his mouth open enough to lick a delicate trace across his bottom lip. From not too far away, Harry's suddenly fogged mind heard a low growl of approval from Baro as he sank into the scent that was Erin.

"Damn it all Erin! You've left muffin mix scattered all over the table, how many times have I told you not to… Baro? Myvi?"

The kiss was broken by the aggravated tones of a new arrival into the huge room and Harry blinked, confused as Erin moved away and he was left looking across the hall into a pair of dark brown eyes. He could only stare.

"Theo," Erin purred, "come meet our new mate."


	7. A Home, A Family, An Apple Pastry

Theodore Nott. 

Bewildered, bright-eyed, beautiful Theo Nott who stood not four feet from where Harry froze. 

He was alive. 

More than alive, he was living. His bronze curls were freshly combed, his shirt immaculately worn and his skin as soft as it was when he had cast Harry that unsure glance in the library all those years ago. His face was devoid of the tension that had pinched his strong features and as Harry stood, unsure of how to move forward, his wide eyes narrowed in curiosity and a flicker of magic struck out to push against Harry’s own. 

And it was incredible. 

Harry’s eyes flickered shut, his pink lips parting in a small ‘o’ of surprise as Theo’s magic flickered against his own warily, coaxing it from his very skin and raising goosebumps along his arms. He could do little to help the small whimper that left his lips when Theo’s magic drew back and he was left alone in his body. 

“Theodore?” 

His voice was not his own. Never before had he heard a whisper so desperate and confused fall from his lips, as though his whole world had been interrupted and he could not grasp the reigns to pull it back in place. Had he been so certain of Theo’s death in the back of his mind that the sight of him had rendered the Great Harry Potter incapable of thinking? So many people had died... Harry had just put the soft-hearted Slytherin in with the lot and mourned for him as he had all the rest of them. He had mourned for him. Harry's nose wrinkled at his own thoughts, drawing a small smirk from the Slytherin that had haunted his thoughts for four years and his lip drew back in a small snarl, his body moving before he could even comprehend what it was he expected it to do. 

The blow he struck to Theo’s chest was wild and inexperienced but hard enough to force a grunt from the man. 

“You!” Harry snarled, lashing again with a closed fist only to have the taller man grasp his wrist with one large, pale hand. “Four years I’ve lived with the thought that you were dead! Same as the rest of them, same as everyone I couldn't bloody save!"

Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him away from Theo’s gaping face and against a strong chest. “Easy, little one.” Myvi’s voice breathed gently by his ear, the soft skin of her cheek brushing against his own and easing the rapid stuttering of his heart, “There is no need for such violence among us, whatever it is that Theo has done I am sure he will work to fix it. He is a good man.” 

And with those simple words, Harry’s sudden flare of anger trickled out of existence, his body falling into the taller woman’s embrace and his eyes filling with tears; stupid, unnecessary tears that broke in quiet sobs in his throat and made him feel smaller than he was, younger than he was and desperately lost. 

“I couldn't save them...” Harry whispered brokenly, his eyes bright but focused not on the people who now surrounded him, but on the faces of those he had lost in his life and in the war. For so long he had placed Theo’s gentle face in with those memories, lost and forever gone. He had believed beyond all doubt that he would never know why the boy had affected him so. It was as if Theodore Nott had represented every child forced to do wrong for their families, every child dead before they could even begin to know right from wrong... Theo had been a weight in his mind, another burden to carry for what he had done. To suddenly have that weight gone, lifted and replaced instead by the smallest sliver of hope, that left Harry horribly lost.

He was moved so swiftly and easily into Baro’s outstretched arms and walked like a babe to a living room couch doused in the smell of lavender that he did not notice until gentle fingers carded through his black curls. 

“Harry...” Theo breathed softly against his cheek, his pale fingers wiping away the tear tracks there with a mournful sigh. Harry watched him with wary eyes, his body pressed against Baro’s in a manner he would have found humiliating had he been in the right state of mind. “Harry, I didn’t know... I’m so sorry, I didn’t know...” 

Baro’s skin flared with a gentle warmth beneath Harry’s hands and he grasped onto it, seeking anything that would pull him from the cold nothingness of his memories and nightmares. He didn’t blame Theo for not realising that a connection had occurred between them, Harry himself hadn’t realised it until he had found himself searching through the bodies at Hogwarts for his face. He hadn’t realised why such a connection had struck him so deeply until he had laid eyes on Theo again only moments ago. His magic strained against him in an attempt to seek the Slytherin. Much like the connection he had felt towards Myvi and Baro and even Erin,so was that same connection trying to establish itself with Theo, desperate for acceptance. 

He watched Theo’s pink lips move as the taller man spoke in low tones with Baro, his head shaking soft bronze strands of hair into his face as he attempted to think of when Harry had been marked, and why he had not seen the connection sooner. Baro’s chest rumbled gently as he spoke in calm tones, his eyes soft as he placed a hand against Theo’s cheek, smoothing a finger over the worried lines that had furrowed his brow. The words, Harry listened to idly, his magic settling to a gentle thrum and his eyes fluttering as he basked without knowing in the calm well of Baro’s feelings and the unusual scents of the mateship. His mateship. His mates. He was going to be alright.

He let loose a soft hum, sad with the weight of his memories and Theo sighed as he pressed a kiss to Haryr's forehead. Like with Erin only moments before, Theo’s magic struck out to wrap around Harry’s, stronger and harsher than the delicate dance between two submissive’s and more similar to Myvi’s captivating claim. With a sigh that left his lips parted, Harry’s eyes fell shut.

He was going to be alright.

### 

He awoke to the smell of cooked apples. 

Stirring gently against the soft material of what could only be the couch, Harry inhaled and opened bleary eyes to seek out the cause of the scent with a sleep-addled brain. 

“Mornin’ beautiful! Well... evening really.” 

Green eyes snapped upwards, Harry’s mouth parting with the realisation that it had not been cushions he was resting his head on, but another man’s lap. 

Erin stared down at him with blue eyes a thousand times brighter than Myvi’s dark gaze, his pink lips stretched in a wide smile. Against the side of his face, Harry could feel the ruffled material of the blonde man’s shirt stretched across his wide stomach. 

“I suppose you’re hungry, aren’t you? Must be, you’ve slept a while and if you’re anything like me I bet you’re just dying for something sweet. How about an apple pastry, hmm??? Or a cookie? Though I warn you, there may not be many of those left with the two food thieves over there.” 

“I resent that.” 

Harry snapped bewildered eyes from his fellow submissive towards where the voice had come from, his mouth quirking in a small smile despite himself when his gaze met a pair of curious brown eyes. 

“Theo.” 

The man moved from his seat with ease, resting gentle fingers against Erin’s arm as he crouched before the smaller man still lying down. “How are you, Harry?”

“Happier.” The answer left his lips before he could think on it, its simple truth making him smile despite the strangeness of his situation. He grinned at the Slytherin he had barely known and placed a tentative hand against the pregnant bump as Erin reached beside them for the pastries. Harry let loose something akin to a strangled laugh, his head shaking in disbelief, “I’m happy.” 

“Good to hear it, little one.” Myvi ruffled his hair fondly as she took the plate of baked goods from Erin’s unsteady grasp, easing into the couch by Harry’s feet and leaving Theo to remain seated on the floor, his head pressed against her legs. “Baro was indeed worried when you drifted off so suddenly, but Erin convinced him to simply let you sleep rather than be subject to the village doctor. As lovely a man as he is, he tends to get... overexcited.” 

Theo snorted from where he sat, his eyes following Harry as the smallest and possibly final member of their mateship moved to sit up slowly, his arm leaning against Erin’s in an almost subconscious gesture. “Overexcited? The man’s a bloody nuisance. Good at his job, I’ll give him that but never have I heard someone to talk so much while saying so very little.”

“You’ll be glad of mister Perrioh when he’s the one dealing with me in labour, Theo,” Erin gentle voice was laden with threat, “or would you rather I tell him how highly you think of him and have you deliver the baby, hmm?” 

Theo’s brown eyes narrowed in a half-hearted glare, “No, Erin, pet, he’s a wonderful man.” 

Erin nodded primly as he snatched an apple pastry from the plate Myvi held aloft, offering it to Harry with a small smile. “Forgive the craziness, beautiful, I’ve no doubt the house will be wild for a tad in an attempt to show off but I’ll keep those silly dominants in their places.” 

Harry could do little but smile weakly and accept the treat, tearing off little pieces that he bit into softly. Erin may have been odd to his senses but his magic was so alike Harry’s own streak of Destined power that he all but gravitated towards the blonde, smiling each time Erin smiled and laughing until the pit of nerves that had wriggled in his stomach dissolved into nothing. He could scarcely believe that only days ago he had never in his life met two of these people and had barely spoken to the third. It felt as though his entire life from the moment he had defeated Voldemort had been waiting for this moment right now where he sat comfortably between Myvi and Erin, Theo’s hand resting on his knee. But, if he thought on it, it had been before the battle at Hogwarts that he had craved this. Ever since he was fourteen and had faced that first Triwizard tournament task. He owed that Hungarian Horntail every ounce of happiness he now felt. 

Later, when the sky had darkened to black and Baro had returned from filing Harry’s name with the rest of his mateship in the Centre Hall of the village, Myvi took the sudden lull of silence to hunt Theo towards the back of the manor for exercise and defence techniques. Harry sat with his back against the arm of the couch, his legs tucked beneath himself and Erin’s humming form beside him as he brushed out his impressive length of blonde hair. The green eyed submissive watched Baro as the man slept peacefully in a nearby armchair, his blood red curls spilling down his front and rising softly with each indrawn breath. 

“Erin?”

“Hmm?”

“Why does the link I feel to Myvi feel different to the link between myself and you or Theo?”

“Ah,” Erin’s soft lips lifted in a smile as he cast a sly glance towards Baro’s sleeping form and dropped his brush neatly to the floor. He tilted his head to look back Harry, his blue eyes incredibly pale in the overhead lamp light. 

“Dragonette magic works in the most incredible ways Harry. When you connected with Baro, it was because he was what you needed. Baro was what you craved, a home, a family, happiness and love. That’s what he offered you and your magic could not say no. When Myvi linked with Baro, she did not want to be coddled. She did not want to be a mother or a maid or a wife. Myvi is a warrior, through and through, and, in my opinion, she’s no more human than Baro himself is. She should have been a Dragonette... 

When she met Baro, she wanted a chance to prove herself. She wanted something to protect and to fight for. Something to love, yes, but her link is different Harry because she desires something different from you than myself and Theo. Where we desire the ordinary notions of love and companionship and family, she desires only that you need her to protect you and stand guard.”

“So...” Harry began slowly, his brow furrowing in thought. “You’re telling me that Myvi will never form a bond with us like the one between a husband and wife, a...”

“A sexual bond, Harry,” Erin’s bright eyes glittered with humour. “Myvi is not sexual, she doesn’t desire sex or a child or anything most dominants crave. She’s a different breed altogether but she will love you unconditionally for it. Myvi would lay down her life for us, much like Baro, though where he will see our deaths as a loss to mourn; she will see them as a failure to us. She is our protector, our guardian.” 

Harry’s fingers stilled where they had been threading subconsciously through Erin’s pale hair, his eyes narrowed in thought. “That’s... sort of nice...”

Erin’s laugh was a delicate snort, filled with humour and wrinkling his snub nose. “Well, yes, everything about a mateship is sort of nice, beautiful. You’ll never find a family more connected and willing to love each other than a Dragonette circle. I do often wish Myvi would have a good old romp though, instead of taking out her pent up energy on that stupid battle room.” 

“Battle room?”

“Yes, the room they’ve gone off to now.” Erin cast a pointed glare in the direction the two dominants had headed, his small hands dipping down to rest on his bump. “They train everyday, as though there’s something they have to be ready for, a fight that hasn’t ended yet. I know it’s so they can be strong and quick to defend us but it creeps me out.” A small shiver raced down the submissive’s slender form, his eyes drifting towards where Baro rested and his lips drawing up in a soft smile. “I’m so glad he brought you home...”

Harry had been staring at the bump beneath Erin’s laced fingers, his thoughts not on battle, but on how it would feel to step aside and have someone else fight for you. He’d never have considered the notion before. He rested his cheek slowly against Erin’s own, his movements hesitant. “So am I.”


	8. Meet the Family... Well, Part of it

“PUT ME DOWN!”

The scream echoed through the manor halls, loud and harsh and filled with all the anger of a teenager dragged from a mid-afternoon nap. 

“You know,” Erin paused where he stood against the wooden dining table, one fork pressed to his lips in thought, “it’s rather like having two demented children...”

Myvi grinned wryly in passing, her blonde head shaking slowly as she took the cutlery from his hands and moved to set the places for dinner. “Harry has every right to be mad at Theo, he should have waited until Baro came home and let our Dragonette deal with the little one.” 

“I don’t think he likes that name all that much..” Erin dipped a slender finger into the pot cooling by the stove, sucking the soup from the appendage with a testing wrinkle to his nose. “I don’t blame him, really... You remember the first time Baro wanted me to meet another Dragonette? Even if it is his brother, it’s mighty scary and Harry’s only been living with us a week.” 

Myvi sighed at the loud yelp that sounded in the hallway followed swiftly by a pair of feet pounding their way back upstairs. True, freshly mated submissives were more inclined to run from a strange Dragonette than embrace them as family, but it had not taken Erin long to warm up to the man and she was certain Harry would soon realise that he was not a threat, despite what his instincts told him. She huffed at the aggravated growl that came from Theo as he made his way into the kitchen area, her eyes narrowing. “Leave him be, Theo, you know well that the prospect of meeting another Dragonette so soon will not sit well with him, shame on you for trying to force him down.”

“He’s Harry Potter!” Theo’s mouth drew in a thin line, “he isn’t afraid of anything!- ah!” 

The dominant gasped as a wooden spoon was brought down sharply on his head, Erin’s glowering face inches from his own. “Less of that, Theodore. He’s not Harry Potter, nor is he an idol with no faults, he is our mate and his instincts have just begun to suffer with his connection to us. Get up there and apologise. Go on!” 

Erin brandished the spoon threateningly until the taller man had hurried from the room, his shoulders hunched in remorse. The pregnant blonde cast a triumphant smile in Myvi’s direction, before returning once more to the sauce still cooking on the back burner. 

### 

“Harry?”

A low growl in warning was his only answer as Theo rapped gently on the door that led to Harry’s private space. The brown eyed man sighed, his back turning to lean against the solid panel of wood. 

“Harry, I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have lifted you and I shouldn’t have tried to force you to come downstairs. You have nothing to fear from Baro’s brother but I should have known how close to the surface your primal magic was, I hadn’t realised your fear was genuine. I apologise.” 

Silence was all that greeted him, a sullen silence that he was sure would slowly eat away at him. He could only be thankful he was not on the other side of the door he now leaned against to receive the full wrath of Harry’s glare. Sweet as Potter had turned out to be with the flow of submissive dragon magic to steer his growth, he was still a powerful wizard and one Theo would prefer not to be on the wrong side of. 

“If it makes you feel any better, Erin hit me.” 

A low mumble, too low to gather what it was the smaller man was saying. 

“What?” Theo inched closer to the door, his face turned to press his ear against the wood. 

“He should have hit you harder.” 

The former Slytherin huffed a dry laugh, his mouth splitting in a small smile. “Please open the door, Harry. I want to apologise.”

The door was opened slowly, warily, with suspicious green eyes peering at him from the six inch gap he made. “You already apologised.” 

Theo stared down at the man he had known only as a boy, his eyes fixing not on the soft features and overall subtle beauty of the Gryffindor, but on the way his cheeks looked far too thin, on the dark circles that gathered almost beneath his eyes that spoke of sleepless nights and on the wary set of his mouth that seemed such a permanent feature, it was almost shocking to see him smile with ease. 

He bent forward slowly, his eyes never leaving Harry’s green gaze until he had pressed his mouth against the submissive’s and those bright green eyes fluttered closed. The smaller man’s lips had gone slack, his hand dropping from where it held the door. Theo smiled gently against their first kiss, his hands rising to capture Harry’s hips and his mouth opening to capture Harry’s bottom lip gently. He didn’t stop until the skin beneath his hands had grown hot to touch and the submissive’s cheeks were a brilliant pink as he pulled away. 

“That is how one apologises in this family, Harry.” 

### 

He watched him from the upstairs landing, carefully concealed behind the intricate wooden paneling but with a clear view of the front hall, a hall which now contained Baro, Erin, Myvi, Theo and a stranger who, for reasons he didn’t quite understand, made Harry uncertain. 

The stranger was Baro’s brother, Murenn. He had been told as such. He knew that this was Baro’s younger brother, a man who had gone abroad in an attempt to seek a connection and start a family, yet he had not. He had returned only days ago to a village not far from their own and, once learning of Baro’s newest member, had begged his brother to be the first in the family to greet the submissive. 

Harry’s eyes narrowed as he watched Murenn ruffle Erin’s loose locks and place a gentle hand on his swollen stomach, only for the blonde to laugh as he always did when something was said of his pregnancy and the impending baby. 

That was something Harry had yet to dwell on, so preoccupied had he been on fitting in and learning the manners and familiar ticks of everyone in the house that he had not spared much time to the thought that there would soon be a baby among them. A baby which Erin insisted was also his and would grow to love him as it would his guard, Myvi, his sire, Baro and his father, Theo. Erin had, in passing, called him the second mother, stilling Harry from whatever he had been doing at that moment. 

A mother. Was that how Erin saw himself? A wife and a caregiver... Seeing how happy the man was on a near constant basis, Harry couldn’t bring himself to believe the notion that being simply a mother would never be enough for him. Erin was content in a way he had only ever seen once, in Fleur when she was having her first child. He would hardly call himself a Mummy though. Dad, maybe? Papa, perhaps... and he would love any child he carried as much as his own mother had loved him, but to actually consider his stomach swollen with child... it was a thought for which he had no answer to yet. He placed a considering hand on his own, flat stomach, before his eyes strayed once more to Erin’s smiling face, his blue eyes twinkling as he pushed Murenn playfully towards the dining room. 

“Brooding, my Harry?”

Harry yelped, his hands lifting to brace against the railing as Baro’s strong arms suddenly enfolded him from behind, lifting him into standing position and above the hidden safety of the panel. He had been focusing on the wrong person! His green eyes widened, his cheeks flushed as Baro drew him up again and carried him down the set of stairs. Panicked, he struggled against the Dragonette who rumbled gently, a soft endearment that everything was alright. 

Though he stilled in the grasp, Harry’s heart beat painfully against his chest as he was brought face to face with the Dragonette he did not know. Murenn’s red hair was a shade darker than his brother’s, sleek but not nearly as pretty and his eyes were a dark brown, near black in the dimly lit hall of the manor. 

Harry watched him with wary eyes, his lips pinched in suspicion and his magic flickering against his skin, prevented from lashing out only by Baro’s own unique essence binding it gently in place. Murenn watched him, his brown eyes darting from green to violet before a wide smile split his sun-darkened face. 

“He’s beautiful.” 

“He most certainly is not,” Harry snarled, wriggling from Baro’s strong arms to drop into a crouch and slink behind Theo’s laughing form “and his name is Harry.”

Murenn hid a smile skillfully, his expression modest. He bowed gently towards where Harry stood, the submissive’s arms crossed stubbornly across his chest. “My apologies, dearest Harry. I did not mean to offend you but, if you may, you are indeed very beautiful. My brother is a lucky man.” 

At a loss for what to do, Harry chose to offer the man one perplexed glance before turning on his heel and striding towards the dining room, ignoring Erin as the blonde raced beside him, his eyes bright with laughter. 

### 

“So, Harry, tell me about yourself?”

Harry froze where he sat by Myvi’s right side, his spoon of ice cream raised halfway to his mouth before he sighed and lowered it back down. “I’m a wizard, I guess I’ve graduated from Hogwarts and there’s nothing much to tell that the Prophet hasn’t already had a say on to be honest.” 

Murenn snorted in humour, his easy smile had been growing on Harry throughout their meal, easing the smaller man’s discomfort. Despite what his instincts had first told him, he felt at ease with Murenn, like he would with Hermione and Ron. The man had potential to become a good friend. “I never did read newspapers, no attention span for the print.”

Harry grinned as he spooned another mouthful of ice cream into his mouth. “You’re probably better off if you don’t.”

“So, Harry, dearest,” Erin announced suddenly into the silence, his spoon clattering into his empty bowl and his hands drifting to his bump in a way that had become familiar. 

“What opinion have you for me on names?” 

“Names?” Harry frowned, confused for a moment before Erin pointed dramatically to his swollen stomach and it clicked. “Oh! Oh, names, oh right...” He placed his spoon down with a sudden frown on his brow. “But isn’t it up to the mother and father to name the baby?” 

He jumped at the round of well-mannered chuckling he question brought on, his gaze turning to Baro in confusion. “No, Harry,” Baro rumbled softly from his other side, his hand reaching out to card through Harry’s lengthening curls. “It is up to the entire mateship to name a baby. Who carried the child and who sired it has no more rights than a bond mate brought in hours before the baby’s birth. Of course, the mother will always feel a special connection to their own children, it does not mean they will love the children of other submissive’s any less. It is equal.” 

“Meaning,” Erin put in with a smile, “that we take everyone’s names into account and whichever fits, is given to the babe. Myvi gave us only a girl’s name, Bea, because she doesn’t believe it’s a boy. Theo, gave the names Annabelle and Rossell, named for his ancestors of course. Baro quite likes the name Dara for both, though he’s not averse to Annabelle, My own are Harrison and Tegwyn, for my dear grandmother. Although, Harrison might become a tad confusing now," he chuckled, "Any idea?”

Harry blinked, his eyes travelling to the obvious bump beneath Erin’s jumper. “I’ve never really thought about it, to be honest... I never thought I'd have children, with everything that was going on... But I suppose if I ever did I would have named them for my mother and father, Lily and James.”

“Lily,” Erin breathed as though he’d struck gold, his eyes narrowing suddenly. “I didn’t even think on flowers, how could I not think of flowers?”

“Your head’s always in the clouds, you never see the flowers.” 

“I am not averse to climbing over this table and smacking you, Theodore.” 

“If I recall correctly, the last time you were on this table, Erin, it was Theo who was doing the... smacking.” 

Harry turned wide eyes on Baro’s suddenly heated gaze, his cheeks flooding with colour at the implication of those words. Theo's grin was feral from where he sat beside Murenn, winking slowly when Harry’s green gaze caught his own. 

“You know, I do believe that’s how the one on its way was conceived...”

“Right!” Mureen stood with a laugh, “that’s me on my way home!”


	9. Counting Down

Two weeks. 

He had spent two wonderful weeks with his new family so far. Fourteen days filled with baking, cleaning, training, playing and getting to know those he would spend the rest of his life with. Thirteen nights spent sleeping against luxurious sheets, seven nights waking to find a restless Erin having snuck beneath his bedsheets with him. 

He had received two owls from Hermione and Ron, both cheering for him and asking for updates. One owl from Mrs. Weasley and the family asking him to stay safe and one surprise visit from Charlie through Baro’s gentle tweaking of their own floo network. Should he ever long for the Weasley family, they were now only one step away. 

He ran fingers through his combed hair for the eighth time, watching the twenty-seventh rain drop fall from the wooden panelling to land against the outside pane of glass on one of the six sitting room windows. He had spent four hours here, perching himself upon the sill when Baro had left for work at half nine that morning. His Dragonette worked whenever he was called upon, though never if he thought it might inconvenience his mates, to settle battles between other Dragonettes or to help Destined who were unhappy. 

One call from the Centre Hall and the panel of Dragonettes who resided there each afternoon was all it took for Baro to be on his way. Harry doubted he would ever desire to be a victim of the punishments Baro saw fit to deal out to unfit Dragonettes. 

“Harry, beautiful, as much as I enjoy watching you sitting on the window sills, wouldn’t you rather do something more fun? We could bake?”

“We’ve made twenty seven cookies, twelve apple pastries and two chocolate cakes in the past seven days, Erin, there’s only so many baked goods a family can handle before one of us explodes.” The words were said in humour, Harry’s tongue poking between his lips in jest when he turned to face the indignant blonde. 

“I’ll have you know, a family who bakes their own treats will never be fat, especially not on my recipes. And do stop it with that blasted counting, it’s freaking me out…” 

Harry snorted, heaving himself down from his perch with a sigh. “I can’t help it, I never used to do it before but I can’t seem to stop myself seeing everything in numbers… It’s like… if I don’t have the control to count it then something will go wrong.” 

“You need to get laid, that’s what you need. You and your blasted numbers…”

“Erin!”

“Well it’s true!” Erin let loose a peal of laughter when Harry struck his arm playfully, dropping himself heavily into the padded armchair that still smelled of Baro. He groaned and rubbed his ever expanding stomach slowly. “You need sex and I need to get this monster out of me… Get out! Get out, do you hear me!” 

“Very effective, Erin,” Harry drew Erin’s pale hair away from his body, frowning at the sweat that had erupted on the taller submissive’s neck. He braided it slowly as Erin puffed, his cheeks a bright pink as he clasped his stomach with gentle hands. “Erin… are you sure you’re alright?”

Erin waved a careless hand, his smile swift, “I told you this morning not to fret didn’t I? Myvi said pains like this are normal around the end of a pregnancy, false labour pains. Far too early to be the real thing, I’m not due for another three weeks and Perrioh’s away on some mission in Germany. I’ll be right as rain as soon as she and Theo get back from Diagon with the pain reliever potions. In fact… they left by floo almost twenty minutes ago, surely they should be back by now?”

“Perhaps they’ve spotted something for the baby and got caught up in the browsing?” Harry shrugged his shoulders helplessly as Erin grunted, pinning his mate’s hair up to keep the weight off his heated back. “You know how awful Theo gets around shopping and Myvi’s gotten oddly compliant with his obsession in the last few days. Perhaps they’re buying you something together for the baby? Erin?”

Harry gripped the man’s shoulders as Erin suddenly bent forward, his grunt of surprise swiftly becoming a pained cry of alarm as he clutched at his stomach with trembling hands and heaved in breath after gasping breath. “Erin!”

Frightened blue eyes met his seconds before Erin’s pale hand reached out and grasped his own, dragging Harry down to his level. “This baby is coming now.” 

Green eyes blew wide, his startled stare going to the bump as though he would be able to see the baby through it. “They can’t! It’s too early, Erin, what do I do?” Gone was his abrupt fascination with control and counting, leaving Harry alone in the sudden flurry his mind had dived into. 

Erin let loose another strangled cry, his head shaking wildly. “Early or not, this kid’s comin’. Okay, Harry, I need your help… You need to get me upstairs to the Birthing room, the yellow one, remember? At the far end of the hall? It’s the only room prepped in the house.”

Harry nodded frantically, his heart hammering an unsteady rhythm in his chest as he hefted Erin’s trembling form from the couch, grasping his mate’s back and pulling Erin’s left arm over his shoulder. He could do this, he was strong. Focus, a task, he could finish a task. All he had to do was get Erin to the birthing room and…

And what? He winced as Erin stopped halfway up the stairs to bend and clutch at his stomach once more, his usually pale face now red from the rapid pace of his breathing. What in Merlin’s name would they do? Theo and Myvi were beyond reach and Harry had no idea what time they would return or whether they had been versed in the ways of birthing a child. Would they even be of any use to him? He needed Baro. He needed to find Baro and bring him home. 

Harry half-carried his groaning mate to the bed of the Birthing room, a bed dressed in clinical, sterile sheets with black-out curtains across the only window to ward away the weak winter daylight. He stripped Erin easily of his shirt, no time now to admire the body of his mate, a sight he had never seen before. He doused white towels in the sink by the bed, cold water that eased the pink in Erin’s cheeks and brought some semblance of a smile to Erin’s face. “I need to get Baro.” 

Erin’s hand gripped his own when he made to move, pale blue eyes widening as he turned back. “Don’t leave me alone…” 

Harry couldn’t help the small whimper of pity and sympathy that left his lips, his fingers carding through Erin’s loose curls before he laid his palms flat against Erin’s swollen bump. It trembled beneath his fingers. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Erin… Nobody prepped me for this, nobody even told me how it happens… I don’t even know if I have to cut or… Where the hell does it come out!” 

Despite his pained pants, Erinn snorted a weak laugh, his nose wrinkling in humour. “Gods, remind me to give you a lesson in biology, beautiful, will you? It comes out the same place the daddy’s part of it got in, Harry, is that clear enough for you?”   
Green eyes darted to the white trousers Erin was wearing, his mouth parting in disbelief. For the first time he noticed those trousers were doused in clear liquid and Harry would put money on Baro’s favourite seat now being ruined by Erin’s broken water. 

“Bloody hell!” 

He tugged the button loose with swift fingers, offering a quick apology to Erin before he pulled the rest of his clothes off and discarded them in a pile on the floor. His mate lay spread across the bed, pale thighs parted to reveal all of him to the room and to Harry. Despite the situation and despite a logical voice in his head shouting that he should be checking to see how far along Erin was, Harry felt his head tilt to the side in dazed curiosity. 

Erin glanced down at him from where he lay only to erupt into hearty chuckles, his head shaking in disbelief. “Now?” he panted through his gulping breaths and dry laughter, “now, you choose to show an interest. Merlin, you’ve got some timing.” 

Harry’s cheeks blossomed pink, his lips drawing in a soft grimace as he moved to place a hand against Erin’s stomach. The bump almost looked as though it had dropped and from the sudden cry of pain his mate let loose, Harry was sure the baby was only hours away. Did Dragonette labours go faster than normal labours? What was the normal waiting time for a human child and mother? He couldn’t remember… He doubted if he ever even knew and cursed himself for not taking more of an interest in Erin’s pregnancy. “Erin… I’m sorry…” 

“Shhh…” Erin breathed deeply through his nose, his brow furrowed and his hand rising to twine his fingers with Harry’s own. “You’re here.. Just don’t leave me and I’ll be okay. It’ll all be okay…” 

“I won’t leave, Erin… I’m right here.” Harry placed a cooler towel against Erin’s forehead and fixed a worried glance upon the clock fixed above the window. Someone… Anyone had better come home soon. 

### 

Baro returned home earlier than expected, not yet six hours from the time he had left his manor. He entered the main hall with a smile, before his ear cocked in confusion. Always, his house was full with the sounds of his family and yet, now, it was silent. His mouth drew straight in wariness, his ears perked for any sound. 

A shriek, loud and piercing and dissolved to inhuman tones. 

Erin. 

He raced towards the source of the cry with his wings partially unfolded from his spine, his teeth bared and his mind certain that his precious submissives were under attack. 

What he dove in on was a bare Erin wailing in distress against the birthing bed as he pushed. Harry’s small hand was grasped in his own, the smaller submissive blind to all but his mate’s pain and his green eyes glossy with tears. He raised a petrified face in surprise when Baro moved past him, the Dragonette’s large hand reaching down to cup Erin’s pinched face gently. 

Blue eyes fluttered open and the man offered the barest of smiles, before another shriek of pain was pulled from his mouth and he bore down one more, Harry’s pale hand lowered between the blonde’s legs and rigidly stiff, as though everything counted on him having a steady hand.

Baro could only watch as Erin let loose one last piercing wail before the white sheets were doused in something fluid and pink and Harry darted forward to catch the body of a tiny baby before it could fall into the mess. He raised it up with gentle arms with something akin to disbelief in his eyes, his green gaze wide and showing far too much white to be healthy. He held enough strength to pass the now shrieking infant to its mother before his legs gave out and he found himself on the floor. 

Baro crooned softly, his face a bright smile as he moved to hoist his smallest mate into an armchair and kiss his forehead proudly before he turned back to Erin’s panting form. The blonde was exhausted, his body slick with sweat but his face split with the largest smile as he clutched the screaming baby close and chirped softly until the child blinked blearily up at him. He cast wide eyes on Baro, his smile growing wider as his Dragonette laid a kiss to his cheek and stroked a pale finger down the flurry of tiny red scales that littered his newly born son’s cheek and right temple. 

“A Dragonette, which name do you suppose fits such a strong first son, my Erin?”

“That’s the bloody easy part,” Erin laughed, pulling gently on the scarlet wings of his infant to stretch the new muscle. “His name is James, for Harry.” 

Suddenly met with the thankful blue gaze that was Erin’s and Baro’s proud smile, Harry dropped his eyes to the boy he had helped deliver and dissolved into tears. It was to this hysterical scene that both Theo and Myvi walked in on, their mouths parted in shock and the cardboard box of a disassembled cot between them.


	10. An Upcoming Event

Harry lay on the couch of the living room, his head resting on the small bump Erin now possessed. The creature that had caused that bump to be so prominent only days before lay on his back on a fleece blanket on the floor by the couch, his little mouth gurgling tiny bubbles as he tried to grasp the fingers Harry trailed idly down his cheek. 

“He’s so much more aware than I thought he’d be,” Harry whispered the words, careful not to wake Erin’s gently snoring form from his sleep. Theo peered over the top of the novel he had been reading, his brown eyes warm as the baby turned its round head to the side to peer at him curiously, his violet eyes bright and wide, like his Sire when excited. 

He hefted himself from the chair with ease, plonking down beside James as the little thing kicked out his plump legs and the scales of his face crinkled in a wrinkled pout. 

“Dragonette’s are not human, Harry. A Dragonette baby will be born bigger and with motor skills normal newborns simply don’t have. In a month’s time he’ll be the equivalent of a one year old baby, his growth not slowing down to normal rates until the age of ten at the latest. It’s around four years after that that they begin to slow. Where he may grow quickly now, by the time he’s fourteen it’ll take another ten years after that until he’s considered a fully matured adult capable of taking care of himself.”

Harry grinned softly, carding a hand through the baby’s manic blonde hair. “Such a pretty baby...”

James wrinkled his nose in a soft gesture of agreement, his little wings stretching only the slightest before pulling back in. Harry rubbed the littering of red scales gently, a shade brighter than Baro’s though they would be of no use to him for flight until he had passed puberty. Harry watched Theo lift the infant as it gurgled nonsensical noises, his brown gaze lifting to look at something beyond the couch with a small smile as he stood and quickly left the room. 

Harry raised a wrinkled brow, his mouth open in a ready demand to bring James back when arms gripped him suddenly, lifting him off of Erin with only a grunt of surprise from the dark haired submissive. He was settled in a lap that was becoming embarrassingly familiar, red wings flaring about them until they had been cocooned in their own nest and he was forced to remain only inches from the Dragonette. “Baro...”

“Hello, my Harry.” 

Harry sank happily into that scent, his fingers playing idly with the strands of red hair that fell around him. “Baro?”

“Yes, Harry?”

Harry’s brow furrowed in thought, shifting marginally in the man’s lap before he raised cautious eyes to meet Baro’s purple gaze. His black pupils were wider than they often were, his pale hands a distraction as they moved to capture Harry’s hips and place him more securely on his lap. “Em... I was wondering...” 

The submissive trailed off as something brushed against him suddenly, something rather hard. His eyes snapped up to Baro, his cheeks flooding with colour as the Dragonette narrowed his gaze and smirked softly. “Yes, eh...” Harry’s voice seemed higher to his ears, his eyes staying forward and his mind refusing to acknowledge the very real bulge now pressed against his inside thigh. “Well... I was wondering if the Weasley’s could... Oh Merlin...” 

Harry’s eyes fluttered suddenly, his hands reaching out to grip Baro’s shoulders as his Dragonette shifted slowly once more to press that hardness firmly between Harry’s thighs. His only response was a whimper, his head bending forward to lean against Baro’s neck as the hands that gripped his hips clutched tighter. 

“If the Weasley’s could what, my Harry?”

Baro’s voice was a silken purr, his chest rumbling against Harry’s and his hands lifting the submissive’s shirt to trail hot fingers up his sides. Harry let loose a strangled gasp as his hips rose once more, his mouth trying to form around the words he needed. “If... If they... can they... the b-baby?” 

“Can they see the baby?” Baro’s supplied easily, his nails tracing delicate patterns over the submissive’s body and deftly loosening the button of his pants. Harry keened as a warm hand was suddenly around him, cupping him and squeezing gently. His lips broke apart in a soft cry, his nod one that was barely visible amidst his trembling. 

“Well of course they can, beloved. I’ll throw a party for little James and all of your family are most welcome.” 

Harry hardly heard him, his eyes fluttering with each upward stroke of Baro’s heated palm. His lips had parted wetly, his throat releasing one continuous cry after the other against his better judgement. But he didn’t care anymore who heard, he didn’t care anymore what he sounded like and he didn’t care to wait anymore. 

“Baro...” The sound was a whine, more noise than word and full of need. “Please...” 

The Dragonette growled, a low familiar rumbling that danced down Harry’s spine and brought him ever closer to the edge. 

“Please...” 

He was lifted so suddenly and swiftly, it almost went unnoticed, Baro’s grasp around him tightening as he carried Harry from the living room to the stairs. Harry lifted his brow from his Dragonette’s shoulder as they moved, his last view that of Erin grinning at him from the couch. 

### 

Baro's mouth parted against his throat as the Dragonette lay them down against silken sheets, his teeth sharp against smooth skin and his breath heated in the dark room. 

Harry gasped, back arching against the bed as clever hands stripped him quickly of his clothes, and a body near scorching to the touch moved between his open thighs. He could hear rain, distantly, against the window pane covered by dark curtains. In the sealed room, he could hear the breath that heated his skin and the rumbling growl of his Dragonette as the man traced subtle patterns down his sides. His eyes stayed shut, his own breath rapid and strangled in his ears as he arched his hips against the hard length that trailed down the inside of his thigh. 

"Baro..."

The man growled, low and possessive and drawing an answering whimper from the small, pale creature pinned beneath him. 

With a cry, Harry's hands gripped the man's shoulders as fingers suddenly plunged inside him. He was... wet...

He moaned against the intrusion, hips falling open further and his bottom lip caught between his teeth as those fingers reached inside him, spreading something slick and wet that leaked down his legs at a ridiculous speed. What the hell... 

Sparks suddenly skittered down Harry's spine as Baro curved his fingers gently, drawing a wail from the submissive that Baro answered with a trembling snarl. 

"My Harry... My sweet, little Harry... so sweet..."

Harry's hips seemed to move on their own, his body rocking against those fingers as he gasped and opened tear-filled eyes to stare at the creature above him. Baro's eyes were near black, his lips pulling back over perfect white fangs as he leaned down to seal a kiss over Harry's panting mouth. The brunette could do little but grasp the man's arms, his grip near white from the pressure as Baro withdrew his fingers and, in one sudden trust, plunged his length into Harry. 

His shriek, as pain danced with pleasure along his senses and all but set him aflame, was captured in Baro's mouth; the Dragonette's smile soft as he lapped his tongue against Harry's bitten bottom lip. The submissive's magic was like a flare, snapping out against his own and twining around his core with an imperceptible strength. He rocked against his mate, answering each of Harry's high-pitched mewls with a rumbling growl of his own. His Harry. His beautiful, little mate... 

"I have you, Harry," he breathed as he moved, trailing fingers over a pale white thigh before grasping it, "I have you." 

###

Drowning. 

Harry was drowning. 

The scent of his Dragonette surrounded him, encased him, wrapped him in such a warm delicious happiness that he could not move. He was buried beneath it all, unwilling to swim even if it meant losing himself to everything. Warm hands ran against his bare skin, drawing moans from somewhere. Moans from him. He was moaning. He was writhing against the silken sheets of Baro’s bed and he was moaning. 

These hands were different, cooler, not taking away but enhancing the delicious burn that wanted to eat him from the inside out. The scent that followed them was one he knew instinctively, his dominant. His Theo. He purred into the gentle massage, running lazy fingers through his soft curls and trying to draw the man down, down against him. 

He was most certainly not in his right mind. 

But he didn’t care, he wanted only what his mates could give to him and he was damned if he was opening his eyes lest this turn out to be some sort of tormenting dream. 

“You have knocked him senseless.” 

A rumbling laugh to his right, before larger hands drew his face away from the satiny pillow cases and soft fingers fluttered over his eyelids. “I’ve come to the conclusion that he believes last night to be a dream. He’s refused to open his eyes all morning and each time I attempt to leave the bed he wails. Perhaps you could occupy him while I begin breakfast, my Theo?” 

“I’d be more than happy to.” There was a seductive growl that arched his spine and a playful nip to his already bitten neck that caused a keen to fall from his lips and his hips to rise from the bed, despite the gentle throbbing in his lower back. “My my, little lion... How utterly ravishing you look...” 

He opened his eyes at that, his pupils dilated as he stared dazedly up at the former Slytherin. 

Theo was devoid of his clothing. 

Theo was on top of him, running hands down his bare sides and casting a secretive little smile just for him. He wrapped slender arms around the brown-eyed man, his gaze becoming lidded as he pushed his hips forward to brush against his dominant. 

“Mine.”

Theo’s bright eyes darkened, his nails digging into the skin of Harry’s thighs gently and His mouth parting in a subtle smirk. “Oh am I now? Well... Then I suppose I shouldn’t keep you wanting, should I, Golden Boy?” 

Harry’s lips parted in a delicate growl and his eyes fluttered shut.

### 

Harry was sore. 

Merlin he’d never make it down those stairs. 

He moaned pathetically where he stood, at the top of the long staircase wrapped in pyjama bottoms and Theo’s knit jumper. A dry chuckle sounded behind him before he was picked up gently, tucked into pale arms much like the way he had carried James only yesterday. He breathed deeply through his nose before offering Myvi a grateful smile. 

His mate smiled back at him, her familiar scar plucking at the corner of her mouth and making her all the more... Myvi. She had chopped her hair recently, keeping it beneath her ears and easy to manage. “How are you, dearest?”

“I’m fine...” Harry mumbled, his cheeks pinking at the thought of how loud he had been both the night before and this morning. Baro, he could hear bustling in the kitchen, the smell of late breakfast making his mouth water and drawing the curious shrieks of James from somewhere in the living room. “A little sore but nothing that won’t clear up in a day. How are you, Myvi? I didn’t see you yesterday.” 

“One would assume you had been too preoccupied with other matters, dearest.” Myvi’s lopsided smile was filled with humour, her eyes crinkling with the heated glare Harry cast in her direction. She laughed as she moved towards the kitchen, settling him in a chair with ease. “I’m quite alright, Harry, I was merely visiting a sibling. The youngest of my brothers has found a wife for himself rather than indulge our mother and seek out whether his destiny was to become a Destined. He seems happy though, so I can only assume all will settle in the end and mother will accept it.”

“Surely being happy is the main thing for a mother to want for her child?” Harry tried not to squirm in the hard seat as he spoke, his gaze on Erin and James as his mate settled the chattering infant in a highchair by the table. 

“You’d be surprised at the amount of Dragonettes and Destined who take our connection to the dragons too seriously, beautiful,” Erin’s voice was sad, though his smile was bright as he handed Harry a small pot with no label. “Some believe us to be above human interactions; though that amount is tiny, it still exists, unfortunately.”

“How... bizarre,” Harry muttered, a frown fixed on the pot of stuff Erin had given him before he raised confused eyes to his fellow submissive. Erin merely winked and spooned a mouthful of heated mush into James’ open mouth. Baffled, Harry tucked the jar away for later inspection and offered a bright smile to Baro as the Dragonette placed a plate full of food before him. The violet eyed man smiled softly, his head sweeping down to kiss Harry briefly on the mouth before he continued with the food. 

“Oh, Baro, my sister would like to know what time she should arrive next Sunday to help us set up? She and Gerith want to bake a cake aswell to bring so no buying a big, hawky one.” Erin made faces as he spoke, his pink mouth mimicking James’ as the baby chewed his food. Harry smiled into his plate, though his eyes strayed to Baro curiously. 

“Ah..” The Dragonette narrowed his gaze in thought as he placed a plate before Myvi and carded a hand through her shorter hair. “Have her and Gerith arrive before ten, Erin. I’ll tell my own family not to come until noon and I’ll send word to Harry’s family to be here an hour before that, so he’s at ease for the introductions. I know Theo no longer has contact with his family, but is there anyone you wish to invite for James’ introduction, Myvi?” 

“Not particularly,” the woman shook her head with a thoughtful smile. “Gerard is settling with his new wife, two of my brothers I’ve lost contact with and the other one I’ve never much liked anyway. I suppose I must invite Mother and it is possibly Kayo will come with her. He’s been rather distraught since his Dragonette died last winter, and being the only other in the mateship, he’s nobody to cling to but my mother.” 

“He is most welcome, as is your Mother,” Baro ran soothing fingers through the blonde’s hair, his violet gaze switching to Harry. “I’ll be sure to inform your Charlie of the   
upcoming party, Harry. He is sure to tell the rest of your family.”

Harry nodded softly, his spirits high and his smile bright as Theo stumbled into the kitchen in search of food, one brown eyes closing swiftly in a wink at Harry as he did so. He gravitated through breakfast with an ease he had not felt in a while and made his way painfully up the staircase to deposit the strange pot of gel Erin had given him by his locker. It was only when he had begun to lie down that Erin charged in and plucked up the jar, two fingers dipping into the mysterious stuff before he ordered Harry to drop his trousers and showed him that the mysterious substance was, in fact, a very specific pain reliever.


	11. Erin

Baro was flying. 

The dragon was a brilliant blood red, glinting in the evening sun, the darkening hue of the sky casting shadows over his scales and dousing his large head in darkness whenever he sunk below the treeline to creep like some vast predator towards where his family sat on the grass. His violet eyes were inhuman, so strange and yet so utterly familiar to Erin’s   
senses. 

He watched the huge beast launch from the forest behind their manor and into the sky once more, until he was barely a shape against the pink hue of the clouds. He plummeted towards them in a nose dive, his wings snapping out to catch him miles before he reached them in a way that made James shriek in excitement and flutter his own red wings. 

Erin laughed with the baby, his back leaning against Theo’s chest to feel each rumbling chuckle that came from the brunette. Gentle fingers carded through his blonde hair, a low growl of exasperation coming from the dominant each time Baro swept a gust of air towards them and pulled the soft strands from his grasp. 

Myvi lounged on the grass beside them, her lips lifting in the softest of smiles each time Harry laughed. The smallest of the mateship had settled on his stomach by James, his dark hair falling in gentle curls around his slender face. His pale fingers tugged on James’ bright wings each time they expanded, earning himself a quizzical glance from the baby. Erin watched them with a small smile, his hands splayed out in the grass before him as he leaned increasingly forward, as though drawn towards the pair. 

When he landed, Baro was in human form once more, or as human as he could appear with a littering of red scales across his unclothed chest and dark wings that folded behind him as he walked towards them. He gripped James in large hands, the infant kicking his pudgy legs out in wild swings and his tiny wings fluttering in a desperate attempt to take to the skies. The sight was enough to wrinkle Erin’s nose in amusement. 

Tomorrow would be the party. A day in which their son would be introduced to the family and Harry would be under the assessing stare of strangers. The brunette seemed unaffected by the approaching gathering, his pink lips stretched in a bright smile and his eyes a brighter green than Erin had ever seen them before. Though as Erin watched, nervous gestures became all the more evident. Curious gazes would dart towards their manor, his mate’s soft brow furrowing in abrupt consternation before it smoothed out once more, as though there existed an internal battle within Harry to not think about tomorrow and to calm down. 

Erin knew ways of calming him down. 

Pale blue eyes narrowed and Erin’s gaze darkened as he continued to stare at the oblivious Destined, Harry’s almost childlike habit of plucking the grass up with his fingers and turning his face to catch the sunlight was drawing a slow purr from the other submissive. For over a year, Erin had been the only submissive caught between an asexual protector and the always heated, always willing bodies of Theodore and Baro. Though he desired nothing as responsible as being a dominant, Erin’s fingers twitched in the grass, longing to grasp Harry’s slender forearm and pull him towards him. 

He felt Theo stand slowly, so as not to topple Erin over. The man stretched with a sigh, his eyes watching the stars as they began to appear, the sun now a gentle glow against the horizon. Erin watched Harry follow his stare, his lips forming a perfect ‘o’ as he breathed out a sigh. He stretched like a cat unfurling from sleep, his limbs graceful and long and littered with a small collection of the faintest scars. Erin had not felt that soft skin beneath his fingers since he had instructed Harry how to administer the pain relief gel, and then it had only been the teasing touch of fingers against hips as he rolled down the smaller man’s pyjama bottoms until Harry had begun to stutter in embarrassment and Erin had chosen to leave him alone. 

But he wanted to feel it now. He craved it. He wanted to run his hands over that incredibly pale skin and feel Harry writhe beneath him, his slender body completely devoid of the baggy jumpers and loose pants that he traipsed around in. 

“Erin?”

A pale hand stretched out before him, Erin glanced up into bright green eyes and smiled. 

“Sorry, beautiful, I was miles away.” 

Harry grinned, his hand grasping Erin’s and pulling the blonde to his feet, where he stood inches above Harry himself. “Yeah, I gathered that. Come on, it’s starting to get cold.” 

He walked by Erin’s side towards the house behind the rest of the mateship, his fingers brushing against the blonde’s and causing his stomach to twist strangely. 

There was a subtle change to Erin’s scent that had been growing increasingly since the birth. It was as though the blonde’s natural odour had been entwined with James’, giving Harry a false reading and spiking the protective urge he had felt for the pregnant blonde. Now, though, with Erin’s stomach flat beneath the pale shirt he wore, his scent was different, stronger. It was unlike Myvi’s fierceness but seemed to wrap around his senses in a way that was similar. Though it didn’t drown him like Theo’s scent or make him weak as Baro’s often did, Harry felt the bizarre desire to duck his head when those pale blue eyes landed on his face. 

He stumbled in the hallway when Erin blew lightly against his cheek as he often did when other’s were not paying attention. Had the blonde’s arms not snapped out to steady him, he would have fallen. His face heated at the thought, what was wrong with him? 

A familiar spike of lust unfurled in his stomach, sparking heat against his cheeks as he ducked his head against the blonde’s inspection and darted for the staircase. This was a lust unlike the pounding that Baro caused in his body, unlike even the gentle motion of floating on sensations that Theo left him with. 

This was lust for Erin. 

Sweeter, but wholly predatory. 

He felt almost like a deer that had been hunted to the edges of a fence, nowhere to flee to and almost unwilling to. He wanted to be hunted. He wanted to be caught. 

A confused hum vibrated against his closed mouth as he darted for his bedroom, a bed he had not slept in for days because he had slept in another’s. He had felt nothing like this for Erin before. Theirs had been a relationship based on trust, innocent love and gentle flirtations, mostly on Erin’s part. 

He was lying. A groan sounded in the room as he recalled the sudden spike of arousal he had felt when Erin had been in labour, his pinkened body spread out on the bed and his eyes lidded with emotions. He had begun feeling the shift in their relationship ever since Erin had birthed James, leaving no barrier between the submissives. The baby had been a deterrent, a wall that had prevented them from lusting and falling to their instincts and made the attachment Harry felt one of protection. 

But there was no need to protect Erin now. There was no baby to hurt now within Erin and the blonde’s scent had changed to signal that. Erin was fully returned to himself. 

“Hello Harry...” 

The purr was far too close, jolting an embarrassing squeak from Harry as the smaller male turned and put them at arm’s distance. Erin stood behind him, a smirk playing across his lips and his pale eyes far too dark to be anything but aroused. Erin’s magic surrounded him, coaxing sparks from his skin with each gentle brush against his own magic. He could do little but whine at the sensation, his eyelids flickering shut as Erin’s arm went around him, his palm pressed against Harry’s lower back and tugging at the jumper he wore. With one swift swoop, Erin’s mouth was against his own. 

Harry was not drowning this time, he was frozen. Each tiny movement brought sparks to his head, his fingers twitching by his side as he panted into the mouth of his fellow submissive. Erin’s breath was warm and sweet, his tongue hot where it licked a trial against Harry’s bottom lip and his teeth incredibly sharp where they nipped at Harry’s neck.   
His knees weakened, his strength leaving his legs until Erin was all that held him up. The blonde brought them both towards the bed, dropping down until Harry lay sprawled against the white sheets, Erin’s body held above his own by the man’s arms. The whimper that left his lips was a sound he had not intended to make, his body so hot that the push   
of his clothes sent his blood boiling and made stars dance in front of his eyes. 

Erin’s lip drew back in a delicate growl, his pale hands pushing Harry’s jumper over his head and tugging on the sweatpants until they too came off. He slipped the shirt off while Harry watched through lidded green eyes, his cheeks flushed a brilliant pink and his slender body arching towards the blonde. 

Erin pressed against him to place a kiss on Harry’s open mouth, his teeth baring in a silent hiss as Harry’s arousal became all the more evident and their magic sparked dangerously, dousing the room for a split second in bright, yellow light. Erin stilled, his blue eyes wide, before they narrowed and he turned to Harry with a feral grin. 

“How pretty...” 

Erin’s voice was rough, his accent thick and sweet and Harry moaned at the sound, his arms reaching up to lock around his mate’s neck. “Erin...”

The blonde growled, his hips pushing down to meet with Harry’s in one sharp trust that sent the smaller man keening. Erin moved swift fingers to grasp the jar left by Harry’s bedside, his other hand still pressed firmly against the bed as Harry moved beneath him in a desperate attempt to feel that sharp pleasure once more. 

“Erin... Please...”

The sound was drawn out, a breathless moan as Erin spread Harry’s thighs with strong hands, his length pressing against Harry’s own as he slid one slender finger inside the smaller man. Harry gasped, his head tilted back as Erin purred gently by his ear. “Breathe, beautiful... Just breathe...” 

A second finger was slipped inside him, easier now with the slick that had gathered, rubbing against him until his breath left him and his eyes fluttered closed. 

“Right there, hmm?”

Erin’s fingers rubbed harder, not the gentle stroking of Baro and Theo, as though the men believed he might break, but rougher, a swift movement that brought a cry spilling from his lips. He writhed against the sheets, his breath releasing in soft cries and Erin’s fingers kept up a steady movement, before he was filled suddenly and abruptly with something entirely bigger. 

The entrance had been so swift, Harry felt no pain as he arched against the blonde now embedded in him, the gentle stretching something he was becoming accustomed to. Erin’s blonde hair fell around them in soft strands, rubbing against his oversensitive skin and making his head spin. The first thrust all but brought him to the brink, his muscles clamping and causing Erin to cry out, a soft sound that was so endearing Harry wanted to hear it again. 

He clamped down, his hips moving forward to meet Erin’s as the blonde cried out again, his pale eyes shut tight. He spread his legs wide, his hands gripping Erin’s shoulders as the man bent to bite his lower lip, before his hips began to move in swift, hard movements and Harry lost himself in Erin’s lust-darkened gaze. 

### 

Harry awoke to someone sniffing him. 

Disorientated, he swatted out, his nose wrinkling as he turned on his side and burrowed deeper into the warmth that surrounded him. Arms tightened around his stomach, drawing him against a lean chest as a nose nestled in the crook of his neck, breathing deeply. 

Harry groaned at the sensation, his body arching against the one behind it.

An answering groan met his, though not from behind and he blinked bleary eyes to see Theo in front of him, completely devoid of clothing and watching him with a wicked smile. 

“Why is it every time I have sex you have the indecency to wake me up?” Harry growled the words, his throat thick from sleep and his arm rising to swat once more when Theo pressed his nose to Harry’s hair and breathed deeply. 

“You smell amazing... Like Erin and you and sex, all rolled into one. I bet Erin smells the same.” 

“You start sniffing me, Theodore and I’ll bite your nose off.” 

Erin’s voice was muffled by Harry’s back, the blonde’s breath tickling his skin until he squirmed. “Where’s Baro and Myvi?”

“I’m right here,” Baro’s amused voice sounded from the doorway, causing Harry and Erin’s heads to dart up and watch warily as he moved slowly forward. A shiver ran down Harry’s spine as his position squashed between a very naked Erin and a very naked Theo became all the more compromised. Baro’s violet eyes were dark and a low rumbling purr had begun to vibrate in his large chest. 

“Oi!” A female voice that did not belong to Myvi suddenly shouted up the staircase, “Erin, you have two seconds to take this heavy cake off of me and give your sister a hug!” 

Erin’s disappointed mewl was matched only by Harry’s squeak of indignation. 

“What impeccable timing.”


	12. A Party fit for a King

The cake smelled divine.

Strawberries and fresh cream and frosted icing that spelled out a big loopy "welcome" across the white sponge. Harry's mouth watered just looking at it, his fingers twitching in an effort to reach across and scoop a mouthful of cream before anyone could notice.

"She will notice, you know."

Harry jumped guiltily, his legs pushing back the kitchen seat he stood on as he stood to face Erin's wry smile. His blonde haired mate had donned a silk tunic and a pair of white jeans, and was carding a comb through his long hair as he wandered through the kitchen.

Harry ran a rueful hand through his tousled curls, one of the new shirts bought for him by Myvi sliding softly against his skin. "I don't want to ruin it… 'Mione's always said I've too much of a sweet tooth for my own good and it just smells fantastic."

"Why thank you, sweetheart!"

Sorca all but bustled into the room, her arms filled with an assortment of chips and what looked to be a small bucket of homemade dip. She grinned at Harry from behind the many packets, plonking them on the table before she turned, her wild blonde hair fluffing about her head as she did so. Erin's sister was not unlike a small tornado of bright smiles, blonde frizz and a loud laugh. A woman not far into her late twenties, she reminded him somewhat of his adoptive mother, Molly Weasley and he'd all but fallen for her on sight.

"Do you need a hand, Sorca?"

"Does she need a hand? Pfft! As if she hasn't several already working for her!"

Theo's voice was strained, his face a mask of concentration as he entered the large dining area with several large platters filled with food and stacked one on top of the other. They balanced precariously as he set them on the counter, his eyes never leaving them until he had placed each dish of food down separately. The dominant smirked happily with his work, hurrying past Erin with a quick rustle to the blonde's sleek hair. "Oh, and Harry, Baro said if you would like to wait in the greeting lounge, the Weasley family should be flooing in any moment."

A swell of happiness bloomed in Harry's chest as he cast a smile in his mate's directions. Erin's disgruntled attempt to fix his hair melted away to a gentle smile, his head nodding for Harry to move ahead into the room. The smallest of their mateship all but dived for the corridor, his sleek limbs just shy of running like Erin's nephew, Gerith had run through the halls only half an hour ago.

"You adore him."

His sister's affirmation brought a beaming smile from the blonde, his pale hands stilling where he had begun to separate chips into different bowls. "I do." Erin announced with no small amount of pride, "we all do."

###

Harry sat in the greeting lounge on the soft carpet of their floor, his body all but bouncing in his excitement. He would have his whole family together soon, almost everyone in one big house. The sigh he let loose was one jilted by excitement.

Myvi chuckled easily from her position on the chair behind him, her hands fastened securely around the squirming James who shrieked happily at the warm energy Harry seemed to be floating on. "He'll be bouncing off the ceiling if you get any happier, dearest."

"I can't help it," Harry answered his mate with a wide smile, his green eyes darting back to the open fireplace lest he miss anything, "I know it's not been so long but I've missed them all."

Myvi snorted at Harry's giddy chirrup moments before the fire suddenly flared green and a long-limbed man with a thousand freckles stumbled out.

"Ron!"

The redhead spun in the direction of the shout, his arms coming around the smaller male that had launched himself off the floor in a friendly hug. They were laughing, the easy laughter of long time friends who had faced much together.

"How are you?"

"How am I? Blimey, mate, how are you? You look great!"

"I'm happy…"

"Harry!"

"Oof!"

Myvi's eyes narrowed in silent amusement as the pair were suddenly knocked off balance by their third friend. Hermione. Harry had spoken of these people, she knew them to be the closest he had for family before he had met Baro. They chattered easily, their eyes bright and blind to anything but themselves and the arrival of red haired family member after family member.Harry's happiness all but radiated from her smallest mate and it flickered wonderfully against her magic, soothing any ill thoughts she may have had about allowing so many strangers into her home. Anything that made her mate so happy could never be a bad thing.

"Andromeda?"

Harry turned in the embrace Mrs. Weasley held him in, his surprise evident as he caught sight of the older witch that had just stepped through the floo, an eighteen month old infant held steadily on one hip.

"Teddy!"

"Apa!"

The infant all but screamed his delight, his thick hair flooding from bright blue to midnight black as Harry caught him in swift hands and spun him in a small circle. He cuddled the child close, soaking in the scent of his Godson as he sent the witch a confused look. "I don't understand, you moved to France in August, you and Teddy weren't due back for a visit until next summer…"

"Ah," Andromeda fluffed the question aside with one hand, her eyes bright, "soon as Molly told me what had happened I organised travel over to be here in time for the party. What's happened to you is no small blessing, Harry and I'm proud of you. We may not be staying long but it'll do the child good to see you, he misses his Godfather."

Harry's smile was soft in a silent thanks, his face pressing close to Teddy's to kiss the infant's button nose. "I missed you too, little man. Look how big you've gotten! Merlin, it's only been five months, how can you be this big!"

A fierce shriek brought Harry's attention and the surprised faces of the others darting up to stare at the red faced child now struggling in Myvi's grip. His battle-hardened mate had stood up since his family's arrival, her brow furrowed as she tried to hush the wailing James.

"Ah, Jamie," Harry crooned, smiling as he moved to take the smaller baby into his free arm, James' small hands clutching the fabric of his shirt as he snuffled in satisfaction, his violet eyes warily fixed on Teddy where the other infant perched on Harry's other hip. Harry rubbed his cheek against his new son's forehead, a gesture he instinctively knew would tame the little beast and settle the wails that had built in his throat. He lifted his face when both infants were quiet and regarding one another suspiciously to find the room had grown silent, Mrs. Weasley's eyes bright with tears and Myvi's alight with pride. Hermione, Ron and the twins all but smirked at him from where they stood and from the doorway Harry caught the eyes of Baro, Theo and Erin; his mates no doubt drawn to the room by the sound of James' wail.

"Er.." he grinned at the discomfort of being centre of attention, holding the babies closer as if to protect himself. Baro's dark gaze locked on his and glowed, his Dragonette's pupils blown wide and the look on his face one Harry had seen only that morning.

Sorca's blonde head poked into the room curiously, frowning at the silence. "If ye're all done staring at the lad, maybe you'd fancy helping me cook up some of the meat for the party, then?"

###

Harry sat happily by Erin's side on the couch they had quickly come to call their own, James balanced against his chest as the baby snoozed amidst the chatting, happy yells and rumbling laughter. Teddy was in no better state where he sat wrapped securely in Erin's arms, his eyes lolling shut as he desperately tried to keep them open. His hair was a dusky pink, something Erin had yet to finish cooing over.

Green eyes travelled easily over the people around him, some still friction to his nerves while others he had been completely at ease with. Myvi's brother Kayo sat cross legged on the loveseat beside them, the submissive's painful shyness at ease only when he was by his mother, Richta, or by the magic of other submissives. He was a timid man, young and lean and his blonde hair cropped short. His blue eyes were darker than both Myvi's and their mother's and scanned the room nervously each time a dominant's booming laugh belted out. Harry knew from tales told to him by Myvi that this man had gone through the nightmare of having his newly mated Dragonette killed in some barbaric fight only months ago and had yet to calm his magic, though it would come. Myvi's own mother, a strong submissive with a greater height and fiercer gaze than his Myvi, had told them of her own Dragonette being taken from them whilst she was pregnant with Myvi, her only saving grace being her dominant mate who had passed from illness some time ago.

Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman who had lost so much, and yet seemed to hold it together so perfectly. He had every respect for those who had lost a loved one, though even dwelling on the possibility of losing one of his mateship sent the green eyed submissive into mild hysterics that Hermione and Ron had pulled him away from.

His Dragonette's own family had arrived only an hour ago, Harry's hiss of displeasure at so many unknown Dragonettes the welcome they had received before Baro had coaxed him into conversation. The Dragonette of the new mateship, Baro's Sire, was a man known as Dami; a non-threatening name, had the man not been near seven foot in height and broader in shoulder than his youngest son. His hair was scarlet, cut short and highlighting the fierceness of his cheekbones as he had glanced down at Harry assessingly. A nod of affirmation had been the submissive's only warning before the stranger had gathered him into a familiar hug and laughed at Harry's squeak of indignation.

"A fiery one you have there, son."

The rest of the mateship was far less frightening. Dami's circle consisted of dominants Edgar and Dimitri, from America and Russia respectively and both as opposite as the other. Where Dimitri was pale haired and bronze, Edgar was dark-haired and pale and each graced Harry with a lavish smile. The submissives were Sally and Amelie, a British blonde with a pointed nose and pretty eyes and a French brunette with the curviest hips Harry had ever seen on a female.

Harry's nerves had only calmed in the slightest when Murenn had enclosed him in a hug before dashing off in search of food. Baro's human brother Adam was quick to pursue once introductions had been made, his face deceptively ageless as Harry tried to garner how old he might be. The eldest of the children was a Dragonette called Saya, Baro's favourite sister. Her scales were a muted bronze, her golden wings folded close to her spine and every so often snapping out to swat at the bickering nine-year-old triplets that argued loudly around her knees. Baro rolled his eyes heavenward at his youngest sisters, shooing them away to find Gerith to play with.

Harry sighed loudly, so many new faces, too many new names. His fingers carded through James' hair as the infant began to stir and wake in his lap.

"May I hold him?"

The quiet voice was one he had yet to hear. Myvi's subdued brother, his body looking oddly small curled up in the loveseat as he glanced at Harry with wide eyes. Harry looked to Erin for confirmation, snorted when he saw his mate sleeping soundly with Teddy pressed to his chest and reached across to fit the tiny Dragonette into Kayo's slender arms. James cast barely a passing glance at his new seat, perking up as his view switched from staring into the roaring fire to having an open window at the other people of the party. Kayo gripped the infant gently, his mouth twisting in the first smile Harry believed he'd made since arriving at their home.

The haunted, sad-looking submissive had settled into comfort by the time Erin's sister Sorca flung herself into the empty seat at his side. "Well," she said happily, bending down to slip off her soft slipper shoes and rub her foot, "I'd say the little tyke's had a welcoming feast fit for a King after all… Is Erin sleeping? Oi!"

The shoe was thrown to avoid the baby splayed across the blonde's chest, expertly striking Erin in the inner thigh so that he let loose a panicked gasp and clutched the tiny body close as he woke.

"What d'you do that for!" Erin's voice was a quiet snarl, his nose wrinkling as he patted soothing circles on Teddy's back.

"You stay awake till everyone's gone you lazy bugger! 'Tis your son this party's for!"

"He's Harry's son too!" Erin whined, furrowing his brow when he realised his son was not in Harry's arms but in the arms of Kayo who was staring at him with wide eyes. "Bugger it, he's everyone's son, just lemme sleep, Sorca! I'm exhausted!"

"Ah, well, it's not our fault you were up all night shagging!"

Harry's cheeks bloomed crimson at the woman's statement, his mouth dropping open in a gape as Erin's retort became, "I'll have my way with Harry whenever we want to, you pain in the backside, 'tis no fault of mine you haven't got a mate as glorious in bed as him!"

A distraught whine left his lips, his hands rising in defence as he regarded the pair with disbelieving eyes. Sorca threw her other shoe, hitting her brother square in the forehead and causing him to let out a shriek of indignation. "Your cakes aren't nearly as nice as mine!"

"Lies!" Sorca screeched in outrage, no mind now for Teddy who had woken up and was regarding the woman with sleepy confusion, "tell him, Harry! Tell him my cake was better than his!"

"No! Harry will tell the truth and say my cakes are always better than yours, won't you, beautiful?"

Harry regarded the pair with an open mouth, his mind baffled as Kayo suddenly burst into fitful hysterics beside him, the submissive's laughter light and carefree and so bloody unexpected that Harry gaped at him too. When the party behind them seemed to dissolve into chuckles and snickering, Harry scowled at the pair of grinning siblings and crossed his arms slowly.

A party fit for a King indeed.


	13. What Do You Want Then?

"Someone's looking broody."

The dark haired youth that had been strolling through the empty corridor of the second storey of his home, froze, his arms clutching around the two month old infant on his hip. James had grown like a weed the past eight weeks, his little body stretching to that of a three year old human child and his wings slimming to fit his lithe frame. Tall as he was, he was light enough to still perch upon the hips of his father's, as had become his favourite resting spot. He wriggled in Harry's grasp, shouting "Apa" until Harry deemed the hallway not a threat and stood the little blonde on his feet.

He tottered there as Harry's narrowed gaze scanned the dim corridor for what had spoken, his firm grip in his Apa's loose jeans the only thing keeping his wings from landing him on his bum. They stretched out in excitement, ruffling his fluffy blonde curls.

"You know, you could just ask for one of your own."

A snarl was pulled from Harry's lips, his hand clasping around his son's flailing arm as he spun, only to come face to face with himself.

The mirror was twice his height, tarnished with age though it's surface remained perfectly clean. His reflection smirked back at him, hands clasped behind his back as though he held all the secrets to the universe. Harry lifted James to his hip despite the infant's grunts of displeasure, his eyes wide. His reflection rolled his eyes.

"There's no need to look so frightened, you know. I'm only you."

A mistrustful glare. He had seen enchanted mirrors, pretty things that would talk to you, give you clothing advice and spout compliments. This was not one of those. His reflection did not move as he did, merely stood a distance away, smiling softly and watching him. His reflection held no child in his arms, surrounded only by the dim lighting of the corridor.

"Where's James?"

Harry clutched the baby tighter as the words left his mouth, as though to make sure his toddler was still there. The reflection merely quirked an eyebrow.

"He's right there. I've no need to reflect a child, a child doesn't know what it wants, who it is. A child cannot grasp what their reflection could tell them."

"I thought you said you were just me?"

He was speaking to a mirror. Well, having a well blown conversation with a mirror, really. It wasn't the oddest thing he had ever done before; but whether or not he should have been conversing with his reflection, in a mirror, in his home that he had never come across before, Harry did not know. He could have simply gone mad. His reflection laughed, a pretty sound that broadened his lips and made his green eyes sparkle.

"You're not mad and I am you. A reflection of you, something you wouldn't otherwise let yourself see. I am what you want Harry."

The Destined toyed with James' curls as the infant chatted to him quietly, nonsensical words filled with seriousness. A mirror that showed him what he wanted? Why would he want himself?

"Like the mirror of Erised?"

The reflection pulled a face. "No, that thing only does damage, showing people what they might have and what they cannot. A dangerous invention. I'm simply a mirror, letting you see yourself from a different angle. I know what you want, Harry, even before you've let yourself know what that want is."

Harry's own eyebrow quirk was disbelieving, certain now he had spent far too much time wandering the house alone if his own reflection was starting to become company. He hoisted James onto his hip, shaking black locks from his face. "That's great, but I think I better be getting back now, lots of other mirrors to converse with and all that."

His reflection smiled, his head shaking softly before crouching down and opening his arms, as Harry himself had so often done when James had begun to walk. The child that tottered into the reflection's arms, though, was most definitely not James and Harry found himself frozen once more. This child was human, milky pale with the dis-organised limbs of a toddler just learning its feet. It was caught in his reflection's arms, lifted and sat on his hip in a mimic of the fashion James now sat on Harry's hip. The child was small, a china doll of pale skin, rose bud lips and the brightest green eyes Harry had ever seen. Its head was crowned with hair wild and thick and the colour of blood. Baro.

A whine left him and he clutched the toddler in his arms closer, his eyes never leaving the baby that was held in his reflection's arms.

His baby.

Arms were around him suddenly, a gentle warmth that was as familiar to Harry as it was strange. Red blurred the edges of his vision as Baro's wings stretched lazily to either side of him, no longer needed now that his Dragonette had determined Harry's cry had not been one of danger. A gentle purr built in the chest behind him, soothing and curious and Harry brought his face up to look at his mate. Baro's violet eyes were trained on the mirror, his pupils dilating even as they flicked to watch Harry's reflection bounce the red haired baby with a glowing smile, drawing a shriek of laughter from the infant.

"This mirror found Erin, too, when he had decided, without fully realising himself, that he was ready. He had been cleaning the spare room downstairs at the time, our nursery." Baro's voice was filled with warmth, a soft happiness that made Harry press against him, seeking the comfort only his mates could bring him. "It showed him the most beautiful baby, with pale blonde hair and bright purple eyes. A human daughter that had him shrieking for me and demanding a baby then and there."

Harry's eyes trailed back to the mirror, his mouth parted. He followed the movements of the little boy, green eyes locking with green, before his brows furrowed and he glanced down at the child on his hip, all long limbs and an angelic, cherub face that grinned toothily at him when it caught him looking. "A daughter?"

Baro rumbled an affirmative, bending to place a kiss to his son's soft hair. "The mirror cannot predict the future, even if it seems as though it is an entity all its own. It is an enchanted object, designed by and for submissives and submissives alone. It's been in this house since I lived here as a child, I thought it had been taken by my Sire and his mateship when they found a larger home. I was thankful that it had not."

"It said it would show me what I wanted."

Baro's hands were a gentle caress against the cool skin of Harry's arms, James quiet for once as he stared up at his Sire. "And what do you want, my Harry?"

There was no thought behind it, no decision to be made nor consequences to be thought on. He had known the answer to that question long before today, he had needed only a kick from himself to voice it.

"I want a family."


	14. A Leap Too Soon

'He sees me. In everything I do, in everything I work at, no matter where I am or who surrounds me, he sees me. I would fear for my life had I any life to speak of. I would fear for my family had I any family to be fearful for, yet I do not. I have Mother and I have my sister, both with lives outside of me. Brothers have long since left me, my mind cold in the absence of a mate. I am inexplicably lost and alone and so constantly surrounded by him that it would frighten me, had I any willpower left to be frightened. I write this not as a plea for help, nor for you to look upon and remember me in pity. I write this, whoever you may be, so that you might have a chance. Don't listen to him, don't try to follow him. He took my mate from me as surely as he will another. Seek help. Don't listen to the shadows.'

A heavy silence, wrought enough with tension that Kayo paused, his dark blue eyes round in the sleek darkness of his bedroom, focused on the point beyond his window pane where the sun had begun to sink beneath the horizon. His hands stilled above the parchment, a fine dot of ink now marring the otherwise crisp paper.

"You can't have me, you know."

Laughter, slow and steady and too subtle for the ears of those it did not intend to reach. Laughter for him alone. Kayo cast his quill aside, timid fingers running through short, blonde hair as he placed a palm upon the unfinished note, his sigh heavy and binding the paper down with simple magic, should anyone attempt to remove it. It was his final say and so it would remain upon his writing desk, a place where he had felt most at home.

The shadows followed him in a manner that had become familiar as he moved towards the open window, curling about his thighs in a mockery of a lover's caress.

"I'll soon be rid of you."

He had moved, one swift jump to balance on the wooden frame of his bedroom window, his arms pushing outwards to fling the glass open wide. The laughter had stopped, a guttural growl now his steady companion as he stared at the gardens lush with the passing of winter and beginning to cool in the darkness. It seemed so close in this moment, as if one gentle leap would have him landing softly on the paths strewn with golden leaves and rose petals.

"Don't."

"It speaks," Kayo's laugh was almost ordinary, his lips quirked in a boyish smile as he turned to face the darkness of his bedroom. It was there, beneath the evening haze, skulking in his room and in his head as it would be forever. It would never leave, he would never leave. Eyes the colour of a full moon caught his, the steady thumping of Kayo's own heart all that filled his ears.

"You will not jump."

"An eternity of freedom, a reunion with the Dragonette you ripped from my grasp," Kayo let his gaze tilt upwards, weary beyond his years, "that's what awaits me outside this window. A chance to escape, to be free from you."

And with that, Kayo let his body surrender and let go.

###

"Run! He'll catch us, run!"

Harry shrieked as he was hauled around the middle and pulled from his daydreaming to be landed in a soft fort of seat cushions, throw pillows and blankets. He had barely a moment to catch his breath before Erin's giddy scream had him noticing the red blur that was streaking towards them.

He clamped his hand over the blonde's mouth, dragging him down and covering them both with a coat pulled from some hook at some point in the evening. Crouched together, they're breathing stilled, they peered from beneath the seams to where a confused James halted his abrupt charge forward to look around for them.

Three months had passed since the infant's birth, three months filled with cold winters, a warm Christmas divided between the manor and the Weasley home and the beginning of January. The child he had held all those weeks ago was two foot in length, tall and graceful with round violet eyes a shade paler than Baro's and scarlet wings that fluttered behind him as he hovered mid air, bouncing the tips of his toes against the ground when gravity dragged him down. James was beautiful, a perfect son and Harry's smile widened at the sight of him frowning suspiciously at their failed attempts to hide.

He jumped up, scattering blankets and a thrill leaving his throat that had Erin snorting in surprise and James shrieking as he dived towards the pair of them, his nose snuffling as he buried himself within the pillows. Erin grabbed the toddler, smacking his lips soundly against the Dragonette's flushed cheek and drawing squeals from his son.

"If you've quite finished."

Harry cast a smile upwards, his black hair skimming the exposed skin of one of his shoulders as he whipped around.

"Erin built a fort, Theo!"

Theo's upturned eyebrow focused on the blonde submissive, Erin's hair fluffed outwards with static as he plonked James in Harry's lap and cast a confused glance around the treasure trove of materials. "No, I didn't, I thought you built it!"

A moment's confused silence and Harry frowned at the mass of fluff that had seemingly just appeared on their sitting room floor, his eyes narrowing. A rumble vibrated through the cushions they sat on, freezing the submissives in place and seeming distinctly familiar. With a scream, Harry clutched James closer as the centre of their fort suddenly erupted outwards, burying them in soft blankets and revealing Baro's laughing form.

Erin scowled where he sat beneath James' baby blanket, slapping a hand across their Dragonette's bare chest. "See if I ever trust you again when you say you will be working for the evening, you foul creature!"

Baro chuckled at Erin's scowl, his arms wrapping swift around the slender blonde and drawing a pleased coo from where James sat in Harry's lap, a smile bringing out the one dimple in his rose red cheek. For one fantastic moment, everything was perfect. Harry all but purred as he watched the blonde be tackled to the mound of blankets, Theo's smirk filling his sight as his dominant handed him a mug of white tea in exchange for the prattling infant. A pale hand moved to card through his thick black hair, tugging it gently to where it fell by his shoulders. No previous happy memory would ever match the warmth that burst inside him in that moment.

But something was missing, was off. A questioning thrill left him before he could begin to think on it, stilling Baro's form and drawing the Dragonette's focused violet gaze from his play. "What is it, beautiful? Has Theo gone and mucked up the tea again?"

For a moment, Harry considered that it was paranoia and paranoia alone that formed in his stomach until the fire crackling slowly across the room plumed a thick pattern of green flames and a man unknown to him stepped from the floo network. The snarl Harry aimed in his direction was silenced only by Theo's curious voice.

"Gerard?"

The man, though regal in his stance and sure in his steps, took a deliberate step away from the submissive suddenly stood before him, familiar blue eyes the only thing that prevented Harry from pulling his wand and demanding answers as to why this stranger thought he could invade their home. Those were Myvi's eyes. A brother?

"Quite," Gerard ran a stiff hand through his pale hair, his scent one sharpened by the tang of fear, "now if you wouldn't mind explaining to your newest family member exactly who I am, please? I'd rather not try and explain to my wife why I was mauled trying to see my sister."

"Sister?" Harry straightened, his hand no longer inching for the wand he kept within his pocket at all times, instead towards the hand Erin was holding out for him and allowing his body to be drawn towards the taller submissives in a gentle embrace. He grimaced down at the spilled tea across the pale blue blanket; at least he hadn't broken the mug.

"Yes, Harry. Gerard is Myvi's brother." Baro strode forward, looking for all the world as though he hadn't only moments ago been playing fort in the blankets, coats and pillows still scattered around their living room. "I am sorry, Harry, it completely slipped my mind to warn you of the Floo. Only the closest of family members are keyed into its wards and can only enter upon emergency. Is all well, Gerard?"

The blonde man gave Harry an uncertain smile, soft in a way he had seen in Kayo, though this man was taller and broader than the small Destined. In a strangely human way, this man carried himself as though he could take on the world and yet as Baro spoke, his shoulders rounded in something akin to misery.

"All is not well, Baro. I must speak with Myvi, she must come with me."

"She's not here," Theo frowned where he stood somewhere between Baro and the smaller submissives, James cradled with ease on one hip. "She's taken on the role of tutor for the younger members of the village. Once a fortnight they gather to train in combat in the Gathering hall by the village centre. I can go retrieve her if it is of the utmost importance?"

With a solemn nod, Gerard took a seat in the nearest armchair, paying no mind to the lack of cushioned seat. "Please, Theo, if you wouldn't mind. She has to come back with me right now or it may be too late."

Harry felt his heart quicken when Gerard brought those blue eyes back up to look at them all, brimming with un-shed tears. "Kayo tried to take his own life. We aren't sure how long he has left."


	15. Method in Madness

Kayo was completely and irrevocably broken.

He lay not in a crisp white hospital trolley with a hundred healers trying to save his life, but in the blue silken sheets of his own bed, in his own bedroom with one lone healer trying to ease his discomfort in his final moments.

Any hope Harry might have held for the small submissive recovering vanished as soon as he was lead to the bedroom dressed so prettily in shades of green and blue and surrounded by the fragile trinkets Kayo had accumulated over his years. The bedroom was the room of a boy, sweet and soft and young in so many ways. It had not yet been stripped by the approaching maturity of manhood nor by the sentimentality of its lovestruck owner moving on. It was a sanctuary and soon it would be Kayo's final resting place.

Harry huffed a near silent breath, his throat tightening as he watched his brave Myvi on her knees by her baby brother's bedside, her slim hands unsure of what to touch, of where to hold to offer peace when Kayo's fragile body looked as though it would crumble beneath one gentle pat. The other siblings, Gerard and a man he could only guess was another brother stood stone faced and silent, their stained cheeks evident enough of the pain they had felt before succumbing to numbness.

Broken and bruised and lifeless as Kayo seemed against so much blue material, it was easier to look upon his still, un-moving frame than it was to watch Richta crumble to pieces beside her dying child. The strong woman Harry had met and felt so fond of was falling apart, her broken wail eating away at him from the inside out until his feet moved of their own accord, dragging him backwards until his back was pressed against the smooth edge of a writing desk.

He watched the family grieve with a sense of weary sympathy, all too aware of the trauma of death. When the healers head began to shake and Richta shrieked an inhuman sound of pain and helplessness, Harry hissed and turned, his hands falling to drop against the wooden desktop and his eyes clouding with un-shed tears. Where was the sense in this pain?

The touch of faded parchment met his fingertips, his breath hitching as he drew back one hand to sweep the haze from his sight and focus instead of the perfectly placed sheet of paper just beneath his touch. A note, the ink bleeding at one point where Harry's own tears had hit it. He traced the elegant curves of the letters as he read, his brow furrowed and his back straightening in confusion.

"Harry?"

He whirled, green eyes flickering towards Erin for a moment before settling once more on the figure in the bed, now gone beyond any realm Harry might have reached him in. "They said it came out of nowhere."

Erin's lips narrowed in compassion, his blue eyes bright as he caught Baro's concerned stare in Harry's direction. Perhaps they should have left their young submissive at home with Theo and James. Try as he might to offer Harry a normal future of happiness, there was no escaping that the boy had seen horrors in his past, nightmares that woke him even now in the dead of night, though they would always be there to comfort him.

"Yes, sweetheart," Erin watched Harry glance back at the healer covering Kayo's body and leading a now silent Richta from the room, "He was so traumatised, Harry, from the loss of his Dragonette, so broken and on so many potions just to guarantee a silent night's sleep and an ability to eat. I am sorry you could not have known him before his mind began to go."

"His mind was perfectly intact." Harry spoke softly, catching the attention of Myvi and her brothers where they stood, unsure of what to do.

Myvi's expression was a grimace, though she moved on instinct to protect her submissive from what unnerved him; standing between Harry's piercing gaze and the body of her brother, she caught his stare. "No mind that can believe death is the only option is intact, Harry."

Harry straightened, his green eyes suddenly clouded. "It was my only option at one point."

Baro's hiss drew a shiver from them all, breaking Harry's morbid thoughts until the small submissive turned his attention back to the writing desk, his fingers soft against the stuck edges of the white parchment. "He wasn't unhinged. He wasn't mad. He was being followed and he felt completely and utterly alone. It was his only escape."

When Gerard rushed towards him, eyes wide and fierce, Harry darted to the safety of Erin's arms, only to see that the man had been aiming for the writing desk, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge and read his brother's final words aloud. In the silence that followed, he stood back, his blue eyes darting to the window and back again. "The writing ends with a streak of ink, as though Kayo had startled. He was here. Someone was in this room with Kayo when he jumped from that window."

Harry had only a moment to feel Erin's arms tighten around him and hear the whimper of fear that left the blonde's lips before Baro's scarlet wings had surrounded them both and, in one sickening, stomach roiling blink, had apparated with them.

Harry fell on hands and knees to the familiar carpeted floor of their living room, his stomach heaving and unforgiving as he retched. A short whimper left him and was answered by Theo's snarl of confusion and James' shrieks of fear at their sudden appearance. He couldn't control it, his breath coming in short gasps as Erin's frantic hands pulled his hair back and Baro lifted him suddenly to rest back against his chest, one hand pressed firmly against Harry's trembling stomach.

"Forgive me, beloved, I did not know."

Harry's only answer was a whine of confusion as the pain subsided and Erin's panicked face appeared before him and tipped something sweet and oily into his mouth. Something eased within him, his body settling to a gentle tremble as a crack sounded before him and Myvi glanced down at him in obvious confusion.

"I've alerted the Council and secured Kayo's body with the healer in a hospital room until the parting ceremony. Mother will be staying with Gerard and the house is secured by Guardsmen Dekta and Rinel. What happened?" She bent to Harry's level, fingers soft against his jaw as he watched her through a sudden haze of tiredness, his limbs weak and boneless.

"An oversight on my part," Baro spoke softly, his purr a gentle vibration against Harry's back as he carded fingers through unruly black hair. "I did not think before the need to get them both away to safety. It would appear Harry is simply one of those few submissives who cannot travel by apparition whilst with child. The difference in scent was too subtle, I had not thought."

The words filtered to him almost lazily and he let loose a groan of surprise, his hands drifting to where Baro's rested against his stomach. Erin hummed softly in affirmation somewhere to his right. "Relax, sweetheart," the blonde cooed by his ear as Harry's eyes drifted shut. "The baby's fine and at least now we know."

"I'm surprised none of us noticed," Theo's voice was murky, further away as Harry let himself drift on the waves of tiredness that were rolling over him. What the hell kind of potion had Erin fed him? "Although… Erin did only take a month to start showing and Harry's entirely flat; not to mention the scent change was fairly obvious." James gurgled softly, drowned out by Baro's gentle purr that seemed to be increasing in volume.

"All submissives show differently. We know now. Myvi, he is well, dearest, return to your family. We will be waiting here for you when you come back to us..."

The voices began to lull, a gentle hum that forced him deeper beneath the rolling waves of sleep and quiet. There remained only the tiniest flicker of something amiss, something not right, something not forgotten but pushed aside; yet as his mateship's magic moved over him Harry allowed that flicker to be extinguished and dropped into darkness.


	16. Shadows

He threw it without thought, one sure swing before the water tumbler collided spectacularly with the far wall and smashed to smithereens, shards of coloured glass littering the wooden floorboards and glinting in the pale light of the moon decorating the bedroom.

Theo woke with a thundering sound, a noise somewhere between a growl and a tempered roar caught within his heaving chest as he stood straight from the plush bed, dark eyes fixed on the spot where the glass of water had exploded, before his head tilted in confusion and wide eyes turned to the pale man sitting upright in the nest of soft sheets and pillows.

Harry heaved a sigh almost like a sob, his hands trembling and his mouth agape as he blinked tear-filled eyes at the mess he had made.

"Theo, I'm so sorry... I think I was dreaming and I couldn't reach my wand, I..."

The door was flung open, hitting the plastered wall behind it with a menacing bang as Baro's impressive height filled the open doorway and violet eyes found Harry's tear streaked form. He was beside the sobbing submissive in seconds, his blood red wings flared wide and his arms a solid fence around his petrified mate as Theo moved to prevent a panicked Erin and wide eyed Myvi from running on the broken glass shards. From the monitor there was a gentle silence, the every so often lull of James' tired murmurings the only sound that filled the room besides Harry's heaving breaths. How the boy could sleep through another of Harry's nightmares, Theo would never know.

"Are you injured, beloved?"

Harry's cheeks puffed out in exhalation, his eyes closing firmly as he brought his shaking under control and shook the last of his nightmare from his mind. Not that it had even truly been a nightmare. He had been trapped some place between sleep and wake, his skin still fresh with the lavender oil Theo had rubbed into him and his thoughts vacant and sparse. Had it not been for the flicker of darkness that darted across his vision he would be sleeping soundly.

"I thought I saw something."

Myvi flipped the bedroom light switch from where she stood behind Erin with a swift hand, blue eyes narrowed as she surveyed the room, her body slick with sweat that let Harry know she had been in the training room again. Erin's blonde hair was piled in a far from perfect bun atop his head and the shirt he had thrown on was far too large, dipping as low as the blonde's slender thighs and so obviously not his own. The sight brought a snort of laughter from Harry, his fear seeming so far gone with Baro's powerful arms around him and his mates by his side.

"Oh Merlin, I'm a fool. I didn't see anything, Gods I must have just seen a shadow and... That was such an overreaction..." The brunette shook his head, digging his fingers into his mess of raven hair in aggravated swipes. "I'm so sorry."

"Do not apologise, dearest. I would rather you overreact than under-react. The response you had is one I can only approve of should you ever feel cornered or under threat." Baro's voice was a soothing purr, his smile obvious as he pressed lips to Harry's forehead before flicking a wrist to rid the room of the dangerous glass shards. "We will share tonight."

Theo groaned as he eagerly got back beneath the covers, his arm darting around Baro's waist as the Dragonette rolled Harry against his side, tucked gently in the bend of his arm. Myvi chuckled, her hand running through her cropped hair before pushing a yawning Erin towards the bed. "I will see to James and finish my training before I rest."

"You work too hard, pet," Erin squeezed her hand before darting towards the warmth of the covers and worming his way beside Harry's heated form. "What are you training for, the apocalypse?"

Harry grinned as he curled between the two men, Theo's fingers stroking his wrist and Myvi's gentle magic a warm touch against his skin, as though to reassure herself that he was, in fact, alright. "Leave Myvi alone. If she likes to exercise in her training room, she can. She's fully capable of setting her own bed time. Just don't work too hard, we've got a gathering in a week's time and I want us all to go."

Myvi's laugh was gentle, her hand sweeping the light off once more before her magic sparked against his own like a gentle graze of affection. "I assure you, dearest, I will work for an hour more and no longer. You have my word."

Baro rumbled a gentle sound that made both submissive's yawn, Erin's form slackening with sleep and Harry's eyelids closing shut against the stretching shadows.

###

Darkness flickered beneath the subtle glow of the moon as it moved ever so slowly across the bedroom walls. The shadows stretched ever upwards with the glow, dark and dull and dancing patterns across the four sleeping bodies in the large bed.

The largest lay still, sleep touching him in so light a manner he was like a frozen doll listening for the faintest stir in the silence beyond the distant sounds of his fourth mate making her way from the training room. His red hair flared like spilled blood against the cream covers.

The second largest male, a pale creature with bronze curls curled his lip in a silent snarl as he moved against the solid body of the Dragonette, his lean form lengthening before he settled to sleep once more. The darkness stilled, drawing back sharply as the door was opened and the female stepped inside, her steps soundless against the warm wood and her hair freshly washed and damp. She moved after casting a dangerous look about the room, her blue eyes hard as steel and her scar bright as she passed the open curtains of the window.

She settled beneath the sheets beside the blonde male, his lips parting in a questioning chirrup that was answered by the warrior's low note of reassurance. He cradled himself within her arms, yellow hair pulling from his messy tie to fall against his pretty face. She pulled it aside with a fond smile before lying herself down and closing her eyes to the gentle darkness.

Hours passed, the house tense in its silence as the mateship relaxed into perfect sleep, their forms lax and, for now, peaceful. Amidst them all, he was not so peaceful. He watched them as the moon vanished and the room was cast into blackness, his silver eyes a glow as they passed over the forms one by one. Slowly, steadily, they settled on him.

The youngest. The smallest and most delicate with his slender body belying the strength beneath. His beautiful eyes, often so vivid and open with curiosity, with humour. His pink lips parted as silver eyes loomed over his sleeping form, weightless steps moving between the sleeping limbs to allow the body to hover over the raven haired treasure.

Lips drew back in a silent snarl as a hand of both substance and shadow ran over the gentle swell of the green eyed beauty's stomach. It had been a month since he had first laid eyes on the submissive in the bedroom of his tragic Kayo. A pity... The blonde's rash choice cut him deeply still.

He withdrew his hand as the body beneath him stirred, mouth widening in a frightened gasp before a furrow drew down that pale brow.

Silver eyes slid shut as he bent closer, his lips a fraction from the submissive's open mouth before he drew back and melted to the darkness with no sound, no movement, nothing to give him away as he made his way from the bedroom and away from the manor. A slight smile reached his lips as he became solid once more, his feet a gentle noise against the road as he walked the deserted village streets. Yes, Harry would be perfect.


	17. Black WIngs

Harry turned, scowling at the thigh length fitted tunic that closed around his slender form and showed the beginnings of the gentle swell that was his child. Sweet as the clothing was meant to be, it clung to him in a way that seemed unnatural paired with the baggy black trousers and soft toed ankle boots. He grimaced, green eyes darting towards the closed door before he reached to pull the tunic from his body, realising his mistake a fraction too late when the tight fabric got stuck hallway off.

"And just what are you trying to do to yourself?"

Harry spun, his arms contorted as he tried to free himself from the bindings of scarlet material, but resulting only in tying himself up more. Erin watched him from the doorway with one raised eyebrow, his arms crossed over his own baby blue tunic. "I take it you're not fond of the latest fashion trends then?"

Harry growled, bending forward to try and tear through the top. Damn it to fashion and damn it if the thing was expensive, he wanted it off! There was a snort before hands ripped the tunic from his form, catching him around the waist before the force sent him flying backwards. Erin looked at the ruined top with a shake of his head, before dropping it to the ground.

"I suppose if it were up to you, you'd be heading to the Gathering in one of Baro's shirts or one of Myvi's winter jumpers." The blonde grinned at Harry's pouting form, the smaller boy's pale body highlighted by the rising sun that spilled through the window and his hair so dark it looked almost a shade of burning red beneath the sun. Gods, he was beautiful.

"So what if I did? What's wrong with being comfortable?"

Erin snorted, shaking his hand through his own golden curls before flicking through the wardrobe that housed the boy's newer clothes. "Absolutely nothing. Except it's not comfort, it's habit. You'd swear you had nothing to wear with the too-big rags you throw on when you're playing outside with James. It's a Gathering, beautiful, like it or not, you're going to show off, or at the very least be shown off... Ah ha!"

Erin spun around with a grin, holding before him a short sleeved shirt of light-weight fabric. It would hang loose from Harry's frame, offer him the comfort he felt denied in tighter clothes and it was a beautiful shade of gold. "This one! I'd almost forgotten you had this. A Christmas gift from Theo, wasn't it? This will be perfect."

He spoke as he dressed his younger mate, ignoring the indignant spluttering that Harry was not a child and could dress himself, thank you very much. With the fabric reaching mid-thigh and the loose pants-fabric falling beneath, Harry's small form was exaggerated and the bump was completely invisible. Erin caught the boy's chin with a gentle hand, raising it up to force a gentle kiss against those protesting lips. The small body slackened against him and he purred, hands carding through thick dark hair until it fell in some semblance of order to his mate's slender shoulders.

"My beautiful Harry."

The green eyed submissive sighed, his eyes sliding shut as he wrapped his arms around Erin's neck and leaned his weight against the blonde.

"This is why we are never early."

Green eyes opened to find Myvi dragging Erin back with a gentle ruffle of his blonde curls, ignoring the snap of teeth that came a fraction too close to her fingers. "Go be useful and help Baro dress James. He spilled porridge over his first suit and I cannot find the blue jacket you packed away last week."

"Does that jacket even still fit him?" Harry frowned as Erin left, his lips turning in a smile when Myvi drew him close and pressed a hand alight with yellow magic to his stomach.

"No, Theo is unpacking his new clothes and the green jumper Hermione bought for him for when he grew beyond the baby mark. I only wanted to toy with Erin."

Harry chuckled, holding still beneath the heat of Myvi's protective hand. "He's growing so quickly. At Christmas he was still a baby, he could barely waddle and was still talking gibberish. It's only been five months since he was born, how can he already be beyond the baby mark?"

Myvi smiled, the heartbeat beneath her palm a gentle one, no doubt lulled by sleep. This babe seemed to feel nothing but peace in the two months it had been forming in her mate's body. Where James had begun to jitter with the prospect of life before he was even fully formed, this presence was ultimately a gentle one. The blonde straightened with a soft smile, her hands pushing Harry towards the door and staircase.

"He is a Dragonette, little one. They are beings of magic beyond our own. Even as Destined, we are apart from the powers they possess. Though James will grow fast, he will grow strong and learn much in the short time he has spent alive. Once he begins to turn from childhood is when he will need us most of all to guide him. He will be vulnerable as all Dragonette young are in the decade it will take him to grow to adulthood."

Harry turned to face the living room as they reached the bottom step, his lips quirking in a grin at the sight of Erin clutching the little blue jacket in something akin to misery and watching his baby boy spin in the emerald green cardigan Hermione had given as part of a gift. It was beautiful against the toddler's creamy skin, his violet eyes narrowed with childish laughter as Theo spun him in slow circles, his crimson scales crinkled against his cheek and brow. His blond hair had been cut so that it fell about his sweet face in little curls and his long limbs belied his youth and gave the impression of a child four or five human years in age. As he spun, James caught sight of Harry and bolted on steady feet to show off his new clothes to his Papa, his scarlet wings stretching in excitement and lifting him off the ground. Though he could hover as all Dragonette children could, it would be a few years yet before James could truly fly.

"Apa, look! Look it! Aunt Miney give it me" His small hands plucked at the soft green jumper, chest puffed out in pride until Harry succumbed to giggles and wrapped the toddler in a tight embrace before letting him flitter off when Theo called.

Watching Theo and Baro buckle the little boy into his car seat while Myvi set wards about their home, Harry gently took the too small jacket from Erin's hands and put it to one side, offering his own hand as replacement. He offered the taller blonde a small smile before clasping their joined hands over the tiny bump that was their second child.

"Maybe this one'll be human and we can have a few more years of baby clothes and being spit up on."

The comment drew a snort of laughter from Erin and a warm glance from Baro. Harry smiled. Whatever this baby happened to be, he was thankful it was coming into the world with a family as kind and loving as this one to care for it.

###

The trip was not a long one, a forty minute journey to the edges of a magnificent forest not far from the coastline. A twenty foot high tent of white satin had been erected beneath the blue sky and springtime sun. It was an area sectioned off for magical events, hidden from muggle eyes and open for the next fortnight for Dragonettes and Destined and none other. A hundred smaller tents littered the open clearing, some already housing mateships and searching Destined and some free to be taken by whomever. The sight was one that brought with it the excitement, and the terror, that had been the Quidditch World Cup and Harry found himself being steered almost reluctantly through the sparse crowds, Baro heading for the violet shaded tent that sat in a small copse of trees, easily defended.

Myvi's hand was firm on his shoulder as he stood watching the people arrive. Dragonettes and Destined, both mated and un-mated passed them by, some casting curious glances at the submissive that stood like carved stone before his female dominant while his family unpacked their shrunken belongings into the magically enlarged tent behind them.

"Breathe, young one, or you will draw on a Medic. That is attention that I assure you, you do not want."

Myvi's voice was whispered in his ear and Harry blew out a staggered breath at the logic in her words. What was he thinking? Hadn't Charlie told him these events were sometimes held in the open? Where better for great big dragons to show off than the wide clearing and over the treetops. He sat with a huff on the soft grass, eyes narrowed at his own paranoia. As if his mates would allow anything to happen to him. As if he would allow anything to happen to them.

When Erin joined him, scooting behind him and wrapping his arms solidly around the brunette's waist, Harry felt Myvi's protective form shift to help Baro arrange their living space. He sighed, his smile soft as James' sleepy body was draped against his front, his arms coming round to hold the dozing child loosely. His own eyes slid shut beneath the warm sky, Erin's form slinking back to prop them against a nearby tree. This, Harry thought, this was perfect.

###

He woke to the sound of a dragon in flight.

So abruptly, so suddenly did the wave of warm air rush over his dozing form that it pulled a shriek of fright from his throat as his eyes opened wide and his body sprang into standing rigidly. The gentle murmurings and laughter that had filtered through his sleep stilled, dropping into silence as all eyes within distance turned to him.

Harry stood from his defensive crouch, his cheeks turning a swift red as he turned on his heel and darted for the safety of his tent.

Erin's laughter was loud and bright where the blonde sat on the grass beneath the sinking sun as Baro's arm gripped Harry around the waist and cemented the struggling, pink-cheeked brunette to his lap. The group around them were slowly going back to their conversations, some smiling outright at the strange submissive and others darting glances a strange mix of concern, amusement and curiosity. Many had gathered in the time Harry had been dozing beneath the sun, the two tents closest their own now housing a trio of un-mated dragonettes and a quaint mateship of two on the hunt.

"Is he alright?"

Erin ruffled his son's soft curls to waken the sleeping boy sprawled across the warm grass, his eyes sliding up to land on a Dragonette barely matures enough to begin searching for a mate on his own. His chestnut hair was gold under the sun, angelic looking with his lilac scales and honey coloured eyes. Had he been tall and regal instead of average and timid, he would have almost passed for a relation of Theo's.

"He's fine," Theo was watching the youth with a small smile, standing and picking up a sleep-fogged James to sit on his hip. "Unusual place, big crowds, sudden noises. Our Harry doesn't do so well with the unexpected."

"Your Harry deals exceedingly well with the unexpected if that fighting stance he sprung into is any indication."

The second male emerged from the open tent behind the young Dragonette, his black wings stretching in the breeze before he glanced at Theo with pale skin devoid of scales and framed by thick black hair. Silver eyes glinted in the fading sunlight as he moved to sit by the edges of their temporary territory. "He is well versed in combat for a submissive, and one so young."

Erin watched the raven haired Dragonette sit, his body similar in size and slender like the blonde's. Whether he was a youth or older, Erin was at a loss. His blue eyes scanned the creature's impassive face with something akin to wariness, though he remained seated on the grass as the Dragonette was joined by the golden haired youth and a third with silver hair so pale it looked almost blue.

"If you could not talk about me like I wasn't here, that'd be great!"

Erin snorted, his lips stretching in a smile he sent beside him to where Baro was seated on a short stool, Harry's disgruntled figure perched on his lap with his arms crossed. "Of course, love, wouldn't dream of it!"

The green eyed submissive offered only an obscene gesture to the comment, causing Erin to throw back his head in laughter and for the three strangers to shift in interest. The silver haired youth smiled a gentle smile, though it tilted to a smirk in a subtle way that spoke of mischief.

"Are we to be given the courtesy of speaking with you, brave Harry? It would be impressive indeed to speak with a sub trained in combat, I have never heard of such a thing. Do your mates fear for your safety so?" His dialect was foreign, lilting and strange though his English was perfect.

"Ah..." Harry shrugged at him, eyes unsure before a flicker of black had his gaze snapping to the male in the middle. Those silver eyes pinned him for a split second, seeming almost eerily familiar before Harry was distracted by Myvi's emergence from the tent.

"He is not trained as you have been to play and fight with your fellow Dragonettes, youngling. His combat is a defence all his own, though I assure you, he will never have need of it. He is well protected." The blonde's eyes widened faintly, "Do I not know you?"

The black haired Dragonette lifted pewter eyes to her, before flicking towards Baro's violet stare. "Indeed you both do," he sighed, standing to full height and stretching before crossing over the boundries to offer his hand. "My name is Enka, the second son of Councilmember Julo. You met my family some years back, before Baro had truly begun searching for a mateship."

Baro gave a contented sigh, as if something had clicked in his memory. "Of course, at the Gathering in Ireland. I apologise for not acknowledging you sooner, Enka, I had mistaken you for a youngling. I am sorry about the passing of your brother."

Myvi released the pale hand with a nod of confirmation, her blue eyes suddenly sad. Her own Kayo was a loss that still burdened the woman from time to time. "Our sympathies, Enka. Tero's death was both sudden and horrific."

The raven haired Dragonette nodded, though his face remained as silkily impassive as it always had been. "My brother was a fool who interfered with the mateship of another and for his wrong doings was destroyed by that mateship's Dragonette. Thank you for your kindness, but his was a dark path that only he can be blamed for. We all make our own choices, in the end."

Silver eyes landed on Harry once more, catching the light in a way that made them glint like the light of the full moon. Both disturbed and fascinated, Harry couldn't find it in himself to look away.


	18. Trouble Sleeping

Harry watched it move like smoke, insubstantial and dark; the shadow stretched across the wall of the tent though no other shadows moved with it. For the better part of the past hour he had watched it move, green eyes dark in the space of his tent with only the sleeping sounds of his family to keep him company.

He sat by the opening, legs crossed and skin heated though a small gap in the fabric opening allowed a cool breeze to air the space around him. His mateship slept on as they always did in the one large bed, limbs tangled together as a snoring toddler tossed in the travel cot beside them. He smiled, faintly, before his attention flickered towards the shadow once more. Like a black flame, it danced against the tent wall, stretching and shrinking and for all the world, almost alive.

He frowned, his head tossing back to stare at the shadowing shapes above him, a gentle thrum to their steady shapes the only thing that broke their stillness. Grey and echoing the strong shape of the trees beyond, these were shadows that he could follow, could understand. His eyes dropped down with a curious frown, seeking again the long shadow that tossed its limbs high, only to pull them towards its body once more; a subconscious dancer.

Casting an uncertain glance towards his sleeping family, Harry stood, his cotton pajamas hanging loose on his frame as he slipped through the small gap Erin had left in the tent opening. He moved through soft, cold grass to where the source of the shadow should have been; its maker no doubt something obvious and stupid and...

There was nothing.

No shadow was thrown against the tent wall he had been staring at. Nothing to meet his eye in a copse of trees too tightly gathered to allow the moonlight to reach the ground. Harry felt his lips pull tight in a grimace, his hand lifting from where he had gripped his wand to allow a warm yellow glow to light the blackness.

"Are you alright, pet?"

Harry spun, his weapon now pointed at the throat of the person who had spoken, a smooth column of white. He snarled, before his face fell into a mask of contrite, the light from his wand highlighting the pale face and silver eyes of the Dragonette he had been speaking to only hours before hand.

"Enka?"

Silver eyes narrowed as Harry's wand dropped to his side, before a soft smile broke the creature's usually impassive features and a pale hand was offered to pull Harry from the shadows the trees were casting.

"One such as yourself should not be out so late alone, Harry. Bad things happen to the nicest people."

Harry flushed, stumbling over a root and shooting it a glare before he made his way back to the front of his tent, his wand now securely back in his pocket. "I know," he sighed, "I thought I saw something but I guess I was still half asleep, chasing shadows. Wouldn't be the first time my eyes were playing tricks on me. What are you doing up so late?"

Enka stretched before him, has hands clasped behind a straight back as he tilted his face back to bathe in the moonlight. His black hair fell in waves to his waist, soft and sleek between the ebony sharpness of his wings. "There's no harm in chasing shadows."

Silver eyes peeked from beneath dark lashes and Harry felt something akin to both fear and intrigue colour his cheeks and race against his spine, before those bright eyes closed and the pale creature turned back towards the forest.

"Go back to sleep. Harry. Little ones need their rest."

Harry didn't question the order, nor the man's strange disappearance into the woods. He simply turned on his heel and made his way back into his tent, worming his cold body between the sleeping forms of his mates and falling straight to sleep.

###

Myvi snarled, lips drawing over sharp teeth and crinkling her scar in such a way that she looked fiercer than half the Dragonettes gathered around her. She dropped to one leather clad knee, arm striking low to force the legs of the man she fought to weaken and drop him bodily to the dirt. She allowed him not one second to catch his breath before her tall, sleek form had forced him to his stomach and gripped his right shoulder back in a move that had Harry cringing and placing a hand over James' eyes.

"Wan' look! Wan' look! Go mama go!"

Harry sighed, letting go of the squirming child as Myvi stood from the fighting circle and held her arms open for the sprig of a youth. She bowed low to the applause and howls of appreciation, James clasped to her hip. Her opponent stood with a rue smile, his black hair doused in sweat as he held a hand out to the blonde.

"A good fight. I hope to battle you again before the end of the Gathering."

Harry watched Myvi talk with the other Destined, James gazing up at her with a look of adoration. There was no saving the boy now. He had had his first taste of violence in the safely constructed fighting ring that took up the rear of the massive tent.

"We've lost him, Erin."

The blonde grinned, twisting his braid in one hand as he watched Myvi sit amongst the dirt with the other dominant fighters of the ring, only two of which were female. James sat plonked between her long legs, gripping fistfuls of dirt and spreading it on his cheeks in a childish imitation of the dirt Myvi had acquired during the battle.

"More fool us to believe we'd have a sweetheart who hated getting dirty. What else would you expect from a Dragonette? Beasts, the lot of 'em!"

Erin shrieked his laughter as he was dragged backwards into Baro's lap, the Dragonette's violet eyes narrowed with amusement and his hands tickling the submissive mercilessly until Erin began to snort with laughter.

Theo rolled his eyes, capturing Harry's face to land a gentle kiss on his lips. "Sometimes, I think you're the only normal one, Lion."

"Well, that is saying something." Harry grinned, his eyes following Theo as the dominant rolled back the sleeves of his expensive shirt and crooked a finger towards the destined waiting for an opponent in the ring. He shook his head with another sigh, they'd been at it for hours and still Harry wasn't bored. Watching Myvi and Theo fight had a way of keeping his eye, their method instinctive and so far from the dreary, fear-stricken fighting he had had to endure that he could almost enjoy it. He hissed as Theo was dropped to his back, the stronger destined missing his throat by an inch. Almost enjoy it.

His eyes strayed for a moment, focusing on the sparks that flew up from another corner, before they were doused with a puff of black ash. A crowd had gathered there only a while back, their cheers ones of awe and entertainment rather than the thrill of violence. Harry leaned back against Baro's side, his fingers finding the end of Erin's braid and playing with it idly.

"Baro, what's over there?"

The Dragonette followed his stare, eyes assessing. "Most likely a show of magics, little one. We can go see if you would like. It has been some time since I've seen fire play myself."

"Magics?"

Baro nodded, his hand lifting to show a flicker of flame where it danced across his palm before flitting out of existence. "I've never had the patience nor the interest to train my own beyond helping me when faced with a raging Dragonette or a dispute, but it can be an effective method of distraction. Some Dragonettes practice and train their gifts until they are perfected and go on to find work that is suited to that gift."

Harry was fascinated, craning his head to try and see beyond the crowd. "And they can make fire, like you did? What else? Why didn't you ever want to train your power?"

Baro laughed, letting a flame flicker around his fingers slowly before flicking it out of existence once more. "There was no need. I knew at an early stage that I wished to help unsettled mateships to be at peace, and to patrol for Dragonettes known for causing harm. Though I'm not a guard, I am called on more often than not most days," his eyes darkened, before he moved Erin to a pillowed seat on the ground and stood, pulling Harry to his feet. "The most common gift is fire, a large range of Dragonettes have the ability to produce and learn from fire if they wanted to. The second most common, though it applies to less than half of us, is the affinity for runes. Some are born with the knowledge and can produce designs that create illusions. They are masters of disguise and have produced some of the most beautiful spell-work. With that branch there's also those with an affinity for light. The ability to warp our very sight if they were not such peaceful beings.

Like runic masters, they toy with light, with reflection and bend it to their will, creating images that would otherwise go unseen. They've often been drafted in to help the guards when a scene is devoid of clues; in an effort to bring fort something that would have gone unnoticed. And of course, with light comes shadow."

"Shadow?" Harry stilled from where he had been straining to get through the crowds, barely noticing when Baro lifted him and made his way to the front to find a seat, his thoughts trailing back to the night before and the flickering of a dream, a thought that strayed along the edges of his subconscious.

"Yes shadow, it's not a very common gift, but it's there. I'm told that to master it is to make yourself virtually invisible. Any ounce of darkness can become a hiding place, you could melt into the night if you so wished. A neat trick, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry frowned, suddenly losing interest in the Dragonettes before him that played with fire and created illusions before his very eyes. Something errant and stray had begun to surface in his mind and he could not find its source. With a shake of his head, he let the thought go, uncertain as to why his stomach seemed to have coiled with nerves. If it was important than it would eventually come to him.


	19. A Missing Instinct

"Enka?"

The raven haired Dragonette turned silver eyes from where they had been staring at James, his pink lips curled in amusement as he watched the youngling be tossed into the air and caught before his short wings could catch a gust and pull him off course. Baro gripped the child beneath the arms with each downward drop, chuckling at his son's screams of delight and the playful flapping of his scarlet wings.

Harry watched the game from where he lay against the cool grass, his eyes flicking towards the increasingly familiar face of the young Dragonette as Erin called his name. Enka's features were smooth as glass, unmarred by the slightest emotion or wrinkle of doubt beyond the bare smiles he lost track of in rare moments of genuine amusement. In the three days they had been enjoying the Gathering and the new alliances being made, Enka's presence had become a welcome one among his mateship. His young friends were wild in their youth, often wondering in search of suitable partners or quick to take to the skies and show off. It was Enka alone who remained tame and eager only to be a part of the warmth their mateship seemed to exude, as he himself had put it.

"Yes, Erin?"

The blonde threw his braid over one slender shoulder, lifting himself from where he lay lounged against Harry's bent knees.

"If it isn't too bold of me to ask, how old are you?"

Enka offered the submissive a soft smile, his eyes straying back towards Baro as the taller Dragonette pulled his son in close for a hug, his tall frame bending easily and silently to sit on the cool grass. Violet eyes lifted to stare back curiously and Enka's head tilted at the warm smile aimed in his direction. "'Tis not too bold to ask, youngling." Pewter eyes glittered as Enka raised his head back to stare at the darkened sky. "I am old enough that I should have a mateship of my own, if that is what drives your curiosity. Older still than your Baro and half the Dragonettes gathered here. My reason for being alone does not lie in my inexperience but in my own personal decision."

His nose wrinkled in something akin to a grimace, and Harry found himself sitting up, fascinated. He would not have begun to guess that the slender creature beside him was older than his own Dragonette, let alone old enough to have formed a mateship. He had assumed Enka was simply more mature than his friends.

"Why would you choose to be alone?"

Enka's eyes darted towards him, difficult to read. Baro frowned, his mouth parting as though to speak apologies on his mate's behalf, but Enka just snorted a laugh, lips curling in that half smile. "I don't choose it, I desire an easy life and forcing solitude upon myself allows me that small comfort. Young as you are, Harry, it's important you understand that not all Dragonettes are created equally. There are those who are brave and adhere to the rules, perfect representations despite whatever personal flaws they have."

Black eyes darkened, a shadow of emotion cast against the creature's pale features. "There are those, like my brother, whose instincts lead them astray. They seek not a noble hunt and the desire to protect what is their own, but an inconsolable need to latch to something that is pre-made, to challenge their own people for the mates they love until it becomes an obsession. It is a dark path, a selfish path filled with hurt and hate and my brother was a fool for following it, for trusting in the instincts that led him astray."

Harry watched the man with a heavy heart, ashamed he had brought up the trauma of Enka's past yet morbidly fascinated by what he was being told. Could someone's instincts push them to that level of greed and madness? To think it would be alright to tear a mate from their chosen Dragonette and endanger lives in the process? He shivered at the thought, barely aware when Erin wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders.

"And then," Enka offered a placid smile, a silent apology for the dark mood he had cast, "There are Dragonettes like me. Completely and utterly devoid of all natural instinct."

Harry's brow furrowed, his body leaning forward to bring him closer to Enka. "I don't understand."

Erin caught a strand of Harry's black hair, pulling him back gently from the Dragonette's personal space with a smile. "You know those motherly instincts you have with James, Harry? And the way Myvi fights for us and is constantly watching even when we are under no threat? The way Baro knows when any of us are unwell or upset and the way he protects us? That's instinct Harry. Submissive, dominant, dragonette, the magic hardwires it into us the moment we're born or given the gift of being a Destined. Muggles and wizards kind of have it, though neither choose to use it a lot of the time, it's still there. Enka doesn't have that."

Harry was only becoming more confused, his eyes seeking out Baro for answers. The tall creature watched him for a moment, before setting James on his feet and pointing the child towards Enka. Black eyes widened, his lips compressed as the child toddled towards him and all but fell into his lap. Pale hands darted out to grip the youth before he hurt himself, pulling the little body close and staring back at Baro with something like fear in his eyes. The purple eyed Dragonette offered him only a sweet smile.

"Instinct tells us that it is wrong to touch an infant from another mateship unless one is family or has been given permission to do so. Any other Dragonette would have either ignored or turned away from James unless his life were in immediate danger, in which case they would release a warning call before attempting to save the child. Enka did not. He followed his logic and helped James as any human would have had they been in his position. While it is a trait which allows Enka's logic to be far superior and his thoughts a degree more sensible in trying times..." Baro trailed off, his lips pulling down as he watched Enka hold the chattering infant on his lap, hands so uncertain it was obvious he had never before held a child in his life.

"It also inhibits me from taking a mate." Enka spoke softly, his lips curling as James grasped a handful of his silk shirt and whispered loudly about his day. "I would never be able to protect my destined. I would not know if they were unhappy, I would not know if they were in danger. I am without the vital piece that makes Dragonettes the most loyal of mates. No destined would have a Dragonette so... human."


	20. His Shadow

He sighed, black wings snapping out to catch the gentle breeze that moved like a warm caress against his skin, snowy white beneath the dark sky. His body shifted, twisting mid-flight to let him gaze upwards at the thousands of stars. In all his years, those stars had been unchanging; relentless in their eternal beauty and youthful despite the centuries they had burned.

Enka shook his head, silver eyes sliding shut as he skimmed above the tree tops, fingers dipped to brush against each passing branch soft with the bloom of new leaves and new petals. His black hair was loose as it often was, a mass of silken dark that was sleek against his back with the speed of his wings, their gentle rocking driving him almost to a lullaby state; a place where he could dream.

He so often put his fate in dreams. As distant and untouchable as the stars, his dreams would forever elude him. An ache for a family he would never know, a want for a child of his own, a need to be accepted. Why did he torment himself so coming to the Gatherings? Why did he not give in to the loneliness, the simple truth that he had lived by for so long. Why would there always be hope within him to find someone? Who would even look at him twice?

He lifted a pale hand, eyes sliding open to stare at the white skin as though it were a curse, the youthful palm and sculpted nails that lied of youth and good breeding. Good breeding. What a farce. The son of a councilman, a noble birth and a noble figure head and a noble brother mere minutes older, to live up to and what life had it given him? One pierced with hardships, with the knowledge from birth that he would never be good enough, that he was different. His Sire's hopes had been pinned on Tero; his beautiful brother, so alike had they been in face and face alone. A fine Dragonette governed by instinct and swift with a blade. Tero had been magnificent in his father's eyes, the perfect example of good breeding.

Enka scowled, the expression one that twisted his pretty features and burned his cheeks. And what had perfect Tero become? 

A monster. 

A beast so insistent on tearing one mateship apart for the hand of a submissive that he had abandoned them, destroyed a family and destroyed himself. Years ago, that had been and still, Enka felt his brother's betrayal like a knife in his stomach. The fool had not even left a body behind to bury, so obsessed with his... gift that the only thing to mark him by had been his blood painted across the stone work of the village; a stain that had been washed away with the evening rain.

The hand before Enka's face quivered, a tendril of darkness seeping from the creased shadows to wrap around his wrist like a lover's grasp. The shadow pulled taut with Enka's memories, stretching over the limb until there existed nothing to look upon. No hand, no fingers, no pale skin; nothing. He was a figment of the night.

Some gift. Enka shook his hand free of the darkness, eyes sliding shut as he dropped from the sky, his wings tucked tight until he landed soundlessly amidst the grass, his body strengthening in a tense stretch. As if he needed any help being invisible to his fellow Dragonettes and the Destined that shied from him. As if he had ever needed his shadows to feel alone in a room of people or a festival. Family and friendship eluded him as perfectly as his shadows masked him from the sneering and the indifference and the blatant refusal.

His silver eyes gazed, half-lidded, at the tent he shared with the two young Dragonettes, a pair that had welcomed him like one would welcome a stray dog. With curiosity, with gentleness, their awareness of his past obvious in their departure each morning, their desire to leave him to his own devices. It was little he could complain about, it was a friendliness he had never experienced and so he was grateful for it. He wished only that they would see beyond what uselessness he held as a Dragonette alone. 

Like they had...

He smiled, the ache within him fading for one beautiful second as he stopped to stare at the tent beside his own, the tent that housed the violet eyed Dragonette and his beautiful mateship. Young, but with experience enough to be strong, to be kind, Baro had embraced him like a friend; a true friend. He had pushed his youngling into Enka's arms with only his fate to go on, so trusting it had all but brought the smaller Dragonette to tears with gratitude. He had held a child, an innocent, in arms that had never received so much as a loving embrace from his father.

It was a mateship filled with love, filled with sweetness and he adored it. Each moment that Myvi had walked the perimeter with Enka on the inside, as though he was one of them, her sharp blue eyes swift to drive back playful Dragonettes with the golden haired Theo by her side. Each second that Erin had baffled him with question after question, his eyes sly and his smile brilliant as he tried to gauge how old Enka truly was. Each time Harry looked at him with those green eyes, so old for one so young, his pink lips splitting in a rare smile every time Enka caught his eye; as though the black haired Dragonette had passed some unknown test. He would mourn for the hole they left in his heart when they returned home and he was left in the dark once more.

Enka watched the darkened tent, his wings flicking from the length of his spine briefly. The barest flutter of sound had him freezing, his silver eyes widening curiously before a hand clamped down upon his lips. He stilled, something like a whine muffled behind that hand as he slumped forward. Don't fight, he couldn't fight, he would never win...

A dark chuckle had his skin paling of what little colour he had, a desperate twisting in his stomach as that sound resonated through him, dragging with it memories that he had buried deep down; memories he could not bare to relive.

"Sweet, baby brother, you are as human now as you were the day I left you."

Enka's breathing stilled, his chest heaving with panic-filled jolts that held no air. This could not be happening. His brother was dead. His brother was dead. His brother was dead.

"Of course, I didn't really dieleave you, did I? You should have known that, sweet Enka. You should have known that I am a King when it comes to hide and seek. Remember our games, brother? Remember the fun we would have?"

Nightmares of dark spaces, of dark laughter in a world devoid of sight; the shadows so black against his eyes that he was hidden from even himself. Hands barely old enough to wield a wooden sword tore at the bindings until they too would become nothing but shadow. Nothing but darkness.

"No, Tero, please, I don't want to play these games, please..."

"And how do you expect to learn how to wield shadows? Who do you think told me to teach you to master our art, Enka?"

"Papa wouldn't..."

"Papa doesn't care about you. He wishes he never had you, what Destined would be proud to bring a pathetic Dragonette like you into the world? You're lucky father didn't send you to the humans to be burned alive."

"You're lying!"

"Are you sure?"

Enka sobbed, struggling against the darkness that froze his slender hands behind his back and forced him to his knees. Shadows crept like silent enemies along the edges of his vision, dousing him in darkness and chilling his very soul. A gentle hum came from behind him, forcing the memories to brighten, his eyes seeing not the slumbering forest but the terror and loneliness that had been his youth.

A face bowed before him, a near mirror reflection of his own pale beauty. It looked at him as the shadows took him over, hiding him from whatever eyes may land upon him and silencing his sobs in a layer of darkness. Silver eyes blinked slowly, his lips curling in a soft smile as he placed a kiss against Enka's forehead. Tero curled a strand of perfect black hair around his finger as he straightened, his free hand snapping upwards until the shadows dragged Enka further into the forest, his thrashing form invisible in the stretching limbs of the trees and his silver eyes now pinned on the tent that held Harry and his mateship. Enka snarled beneath the layers of darkness slowly smothering him.

"He's not yours! This isn't right!"

"Oh? And are you going to do something about it, dearest Enka? Will you run to father with your plea? Would he even believe you? When has he ever believed you... Face it, brother, there is nothing you can do to stop me."

"Please... Tero, you'll be killed... You'll hurt them, Tero, please. Don't do this to them... Please..."

Enka bowed his head in defeat, eyes seeing only the emptiness of his brother's shadows. 

Tero... Please...


	21. Something Catch Your Eye

Baro watched the blonde stir from where she lay against the rumpled bedding, a body sleek with years of training and taut with the slim muscles beneath the skin stretching; relaxing until she had pulled herself from sleep, her blue eyes swift to scan the palely lit inside of their tent. She spared his watchful eyes barely a glance, hands already sliding to wrap around the sharpened staff she kept hidden by every bed she shared with her mateship. Her magic greeted his own as it always had, slowly and sluggishly like a fading ember that would spark with the slightest threat. A hidden weapon.

"What is it?"

Baro drew himself into a sitting position, violet eyes softening when Harry chirruped at the loss of heat like a youngling and turned to bury his nose in Erin's neck. The sleeping blonde answered back, a sound latent with sleep as he pulled the smaller body closer before the pair settled down once more. Theo lay by their sides, one hand idly playing with the golden curls of their submissive as he watched Baro shift in the bed with lidded eyes. His magic was a curious thing, snappy and swift where Myvi's was certain and self-assured; a playful thing. Baro eased it with a nudge of his own, a palm placed upon Theo's golden-toned stomach until those pretty eyes fluttered shut and he curled against Erin's back with a protective hum rumbling deep within his chest.

Baro stood, scarlet hair falling down his slender back as he searched the carpeted floor for the trousers he had discarded the previous evening, a soft "aha" causing Myvi's lips to curve in a smile. She stood from the bedding, rolling her shoulders beneath the silk tunic and wool-lined linen trousers she slept in most nights, uncaring of the heat. With a cautious glance back towards the child nestled happily in his travel cot, she followed Baro outside the tent and into the dawn air that hung heavy around them, devoid of the gentle breeze that had been there the night before.

"What is it, Baro?"

The violet eyed Dragonette sniffed the air, head tilting curiously. "Perhaps nothing. I was certain I had heard a cry of distress in my dreams, but when I awoke I was not so sure." He frowned at the tree line, their bronze branches and emerald leaves bright with the rising sun and casting doubt over the panic he believed he had sensed only hours before hand. It was not an impossible thing that his dreams had simply impressed upon his instincts. Rare though it was that he was wrong when a Destined was in danger or a Dragonette in need of aid; it had happened before that he had been mistaken. It was a skill honed from years of training with his Sire, susceptible to mistakes and errors even after all this time. To be trained to protect and defend those he had no instinctive reason to protect, it was a talent that had earned him a stable living and respect amongst his kind, especially those who were victims of abuse or neglect. His directive was not to bring justice, merely to acquire momentary peace until a member of the Guard was pulled forward.

He had been certain, amidst his dreaming, that someone had reached out their magic for aid; a natural reaction in the face of great fear or great horror. Whether they wished to, or not, was rarely an issue amongst the Dragonettes and the Destined. Magic was a shield and it would react as so regardless of how tenuous or strong a grasp one had over it. Which was why there existed Dragonettes like him, to open themselves and respond to that otherwise invisible and silent cry for help.

Now, though, the Gathering place was still. A few scattered forms had taken to the air, their lazy spirals and slow flight showing their lack of turmoil. Most tents were drawn shut still, the occupants within sleeping or enjoying the gentle rise of a new day. Had he been mistaken, then?

Baro sighed, his eyes raking over the surroundings as one hand reached out to draw Myvi into an apologetic hold against his front. He nuzzled against her neck until she snorted and swatted at him like an annoying fly, her blue eyes amused but no less wary as they watched him.

"It seems I am mistaken, dearest," Baro ran a hand through his scarlet hair, squinting up at the flying figures above, "I must have been lost in a dream. My mind is… faraway with unusual thoughts."

Myvi chuckled, leaning her staff against the rigid side of the tent to stretch her limbs fully in the open space, her smile alight with amusement. "Your mind is often faraway when you are considering courting, Baro."

The Dragonette stiffened, his pale hands halting in their movement to lift the tent opening once more. He turned to his dominant, the sharp-eyed blonde he had fallen for with the first swipe of her sword against an enemies throat all those years ago. Bathed in the metallic scented blood of a Dragonette incensed on taking out one of the Council members, she was magnificent. His heart had ached for her even before he could determine whether she was Dragonette or Destined, a feat that was rare if not unheard of within their species. She had been a loyal member of the Guard, proud and dangerous enough that he had watched her from afar like a love-struck fool until she had grown weary of his infatuation and had attacked him at a Gathering to prove her opinion on romance.

And still, he had been besotted by her, had risked his very life time and again just to speak with her, to earn her trust. It was enough to watch her move as she trained, enough to watch the thrill in her eyes as she protected those weaker than her, enough to feel the spark of her magic and not the paleness of her skin. To him, Myvi had been enough simply being a thing of worship, of unattainable power. When the blonde had followed him home from the village he had found her in and done nothing more than announce herself as his, he had scarcely dared to believe it.

Myvi had denounced everything in her life the moment she had come to the conclusion that within Baro she would find a comfort and peace she could not find elsewhere. In his unending glances and admiration, the battles that would leave both weary and neither defeated, in his swift smile and pale hands that sought to praise rather than to grope, Myvi had found a home. And so, when she learned of his leaving, she had walked away from her mother, from the brothers who called her a fool and from the Guard and she had followed him.

His beautiful Myvi.

Baro watched the shine of her golden hair, straight and sleek and as captivating now as it had been wrapped in a warrior's braid to her waist. Her sweet face with its sharp jaw and jagged scar sent a thrill of possessiveness up his spine and he smiled, his eyes softening.

"Is it so obvious?"

Myvi snorted, white teeth gleaming. "From someone who has watched you pine for what you believed you could never have, who has watched you become ensnared by a blonde Irish imp who was determined to have his way with you, who has seen you tear a damaged, brave, bronze-haired youth from the hands of his abusive father, who has seen you fall totally and completely in love at first sight with a green-eyed warrior too young for such hardships; it is quite obvious." She turned, dark gaze flitting to the tent that housed the three Dragonettes, one of whom had fast become a friend, "and I will never doubt your choices."

Baro followed her gaze, his brow furrowed. "Perhaps it is wrong. It should go against every instinct, to wish to court another Dragonette and bring them into my mateship. It should bring nothing but jealousy that I have seen Harry and Erin stare at him, or that I have seen him admire both you and Theo. It should have me wanting to tear him apart and yet… I cannot. I am drawn to him."

"Then that's it, isn't it?" Myvi smiled, voice soft, "What was it Enka called himself? Human? In your eyes, eyes that are forgiving and not judgmenta;, missing what makes him a Dragonette does not make him lesser, it simply makes him a Destined; damaged by a past as all of us have been." She turned to grasp her staff, grinning as she crouched low. "And I am eager to see if his many years have made him a fighter worthy of my attack."

Baro laughed, the sound deep and sultry in the tepid air. Carefree, his mind's wanderings now seeming somehow more viable. He would discuss it with his family come meal time. Regardless of what the Gathering or the Council would think on the matter, it was the opinion of his mateship and his mateship alone that Baro desired. He trailed a hand absently over the curve of scales that bled into his side and hip, disappearing beneath he band of the trousers as something flickered against his senses, drawing his sight to the treeline once more.

Before he could consider what it was that sparked his attention, a cry rent the air. Shrieking and abnormally pitched, the shattering thrill of a submissive in a large amount of pain filled his ears before their magic lashed out wildly. Baro had only a moment to incline his head to the rigid Myvi before he took off, his scarlet wings flaring in the air and sending him towards the direction the cry had come from, far across the open grounds.

###

"What was that?"

Harry watched Theo leap from the bed, deft fingers finding clothing swiftly from the cupboard before he held a hand towards them in a silent command to stay and disappeared through the tent opening.

The green eyed submissive gaped at the slant of sunlight, body jerking when Erin tugged a sobbing James between their bodies, his hands moving automatically to rub against the infant's stomach as a gentle hum pressed against his throat. Harry turned wide eyes on his mate, freezing when he met Erin's narrowed gaze as the blonde forced the spaces between them closed until both Harry and James were almost in his lap, his teeth bared in a silent snarl.

"Erin?"

The taller submissive whined, hushing Harry with a hand to his mouth as his magic seeped like a physical thing across the tent floor, seeking the wary spark of Theo where the dominant stood by the perimeter of their tent space protectively. Green eyes scanned the room, rocking James against him as it seemed to darken around him. Where had the sun gone? Better yet, where were Baro and Myvi? Something akin to a whimper fell from Erin's lips as the shadows around them darkened, his arms grasping harder and his magic drawing back to twine against Harry's own.

"How sweet…"

The pair froze, breaths stilling as they turned to face the figure now stood beside them, his tall form seeming to have risen from the shadows themselves beside their bed. His face was achingly familiar, the stretching smile and overall wrongness the only thing that kept Erin and Harry from believing that this was Enka. No… This was not Enka at all.

"Who are you?" Harry croaked, drawing a strangled gasp from Erin as the blonde tried to stifle his voice again, his fingers carding through the fluffy blonde hair of the baby still sniffling in their arms.

"Ohh, sweetest Harry, and here I believed you would remember me. Has my brother frightened you so that you would shrink from me, beloved?"

The pale creature leaned forward, drawing a surprised hiss from Harry as a familiar shadow danced across the stranger's face. Memories of half-seen nightmares and figures he believed to be his own imagination in the past months raced to the forefront of his mind; the shadows he had watched and followed now all the more terrifying. It surfaced like oil through water, that half-forgotten night of Enka amidst the darkness, his eyes strange and his words confusing as he ordered Harry back to bed. Melrin, had that even been Enka?

"You've been following me." Harry whispered, his hand going for the wand holstered on his arm even as he pushed a shivering Erin behind him, James' petrified whimper setting his teeth on edge. "You've been following me! You're the one who's been playing with the shadows!"

A high-pitched chuckle, painfully dissimilar to Enka's muffled laughter and the sweet smile he had come to know. Harry jerked his wand to the front of the Dragonette's throat, his lips spreading in a snarl as he pushed forward, stepping from the bed and away from Erin's frozen form. He would not bring his family into this. He would not be responsible for the death of a loved one at the hands of another madman. Harry cast one desperate glance behind him, eyes huge as Erin locked gazes with him and gasped, understanding dawning in his pale eyes. Harry shook his head, before turning back to glare into manic silver eyes and snapping out a hand to wrap his fingers around a snow white wrist.

Erin watched as the pair, a stranger with the scent of madness about him and his beautiful green eyed mate, vanished into thin air with a crack, the sound of wizarding magic bringing Theo running back inside with a confused furrow to his brow. Erin clutched his son tighter, heart beating panicked beats against his chest, before opening his mouth and screaming.


	22. One Missing

Baro dropped from the skies, Erin's wails still piercing his ears as his booted feet landed harshly on the lush grass beside their tent. His submissive was out front, sobbing; James clutched to his front as though he feared to set him down and his backside planted firmly on the dewy grass even as Theo tried to lift him to his feet. The blonde's face was tear-streaked, pink lips parting in a screech of pain that lanced through Baro's heart and had his pupils shrinking to slits. His eyes scanned for the threat, barely registering when Myvi skidded to a stop by his side, her chest heaving with each breath as she took in her mates and the crowd that was quickly gathering by their tent.

They had been gone for minutes, a bare minimal of time drawn away by a silly little submissive who was convinced the shadows of her tent had tried to bind her and crawl inside her skull. A foolish nightmare, but one that had shaken her enough to warrant their help regardless. Her cry had been nothing to Baro, though, as the shock of ice cold fear that had doused his very soul when Erin had begun to scream. His carefree submissive had sounded as though death itself was upon his heels, the pitch rising in height until it had given way to terrified squeaks. A near mourning call...

"Where's Harry?"

Baro's words bowed Erin's head, a guttural moan leaving his throat as he wrapped his struggling child in slender arms and drew in on himself, pale eyes unseeing to the unease that was settling over the crowd and the pained slant to Myvi's eyes.

"He's gone."

Her voice was a croak, hushed and disbelieving as her magic flickered uselessly against the barriers she had created, the light of her smallest sub gone from their protection and their sight. "He's gone... How is he gone...?"

"Apparated." Theo growled, his golden eyes dark and his top lips drawn in a vicious snarl. "I went to stand guard, strengthen the wards but he was in there! I don't know how but he was in there! With them! Fuck!"

His breath caught on the snarl that left him, ripped from his chest as his magic snapped like a physical thing against his skin, his hands coming up to grip his own arms. He had failed him. He had failed his mate, he had failed Harry. His Harry... His Harry...

Baro's arms came around him, gripping his shoulders in a red hot grasp and pushing him gently to the floor beside Erin, his red wings snapping out wide and jolting Myvi within his line of sight. Reassuring fingers rubbed against his dominant's tense neck, easing the muscles there until Theo buried his face in his hands and sighed a broken sigh. Violet eyes raked over the forming crowds, narrowed and threatening until they settled on a somewhat familiar face.

"Rinel."

The member of the Guard was old, his pale eyes narrowed with age and younthful face betrayed only by the darkened silver that littered his blonde hair. He stood at the forefront of the crowd, a staff much like Myvi's own held before his body and his leather clad legs spaced evenly. He jolted as his name left Baro's lips, before nodding to the man he knew from years of working in a similar field.

"You are in need of aid, Baro?"

"Yesss." The sound was hissed, Baro's anger at the attack on his mateship barely contained beneath his pale skin. "There are others of the Guard posted here?"

Rinel nodded, face grim. "We may not have found an attacker in Richta's household with Kayo, however the Council deemed it warranted that this season's Gathering be protected as a precaution." He sneered, harsh eyes raking over the distressed forms of Erin and Theo and Myvi's frozen figure, "seems it was not unjust as we first believed. The thought that one would steal another's submissive is an abhorrent one... We believed Kayo had succumbed to madness, paranoia, and convinced himself that he was being followed by something that was not there. It would appear we were wrong."

"I would have one of your men send word to my father and whichever Council member they deem fit." Baro straightened, his hand snapping out to grasp the back of Myvi's neck and bring her back to her senses. She snarled at the touch, before catching his eye and grunting deep in her throat, her dark eyes latching to her younger mates and speeding forward to deal with what was at hand. Baro inhaled the fierce roll of her magic, eyes closing for the briefest of moments.

Rinel bowed to him formally, one hand fisted across his front. "Of course, Baro. The Gathering will be pulled short and the Guard shall be called in. The area is yours to search and a watchman shall be placed with your mateship." He turned, hand already rising to call fort the Guardsmen scattered throughout the tents. Baro turned his eyes away, his slender fingers curling into a fist by his side as he dropped his gaze to Myvi and Theo as the pair tried to coax Erin from his panicked blank-eyed stare, their faces lined with stress and grief. Held immobile, James clutched tighter at his mother's arms, his violet eyes the only pair to meet Baro's own, as his lips parted in a confused whisper.

"Apa?"

###

Harry struck the forested floor with a gasp of pain, his green eyes wide as a tall body collided with his own. He had only a moment to snarl a curse, breathing a sigh of relief at the flare of red from his wand and the gasp of pain from his tormentor as he pushed to his feet and took off at a sprint.

Hogwarts had let him in. The gratitude he felt at having bypassed the wards and not landed himself in the middle of Hogsmeade or, Merlin, splinched in two, curved his lips in a fierce smile as he raced passed trees lit by the barest flicker of daylight. He just had to get to the edge, get to the edge, out in the open where he could fend for himself, where he could fight for himself and take this creature down.

A flicker of panic invaded his brain, dark memories and even darker visions of the mind he had endured and taken down on these very grounds not so long ago. He pushed it aside with a breath that was almost a sob, his legs pounding over the twisting roots of the age-old trees and the plants that seemed to have a mind all their own. Everything would be okay... Everything would work out... It had to work out...

There!

Light ahead of him, an opening in the vast amount of trees just as his stomach gave a violent summersault; the effects of the apparition reaching him like an aftershock. He whined low in his throat, one hand clasping his swollen stomach as the other gripped his wand tighter, eyes pinned on that slant of light in the distance.

"That wasn't playing fair."

Harry shrieked, a solid form lashing out in front of him catching him hard around the middle and sending him sprawling across the moss softened ground. He arched against the pain that bloomed like a familiar friend across his torso, the all too familiar ache of physical violence. Panting, he gripped his stomach with both hands, green eyes screwed closed as he fought against the urge to heave and curl around his unprotected child. Stay alert, stay alert...

"Oh, don't worry about losing that one, sweetheart, I'll give you another."

Harry's breath left him in a startled chirrup, eyes flaring wide to watch the creature that stood over him, his lips drawn upwards in a daunting little smile and his black wings flared behind him.

"We wouldn't want to bring another man's bastard into our family anyway, would we? I'll rid you of it in no time, my beautiful Harry." He bent down, sinking until his knees touched the ground on either side of Harry and he had straddled himself across the smaller male's lap. He grinned down at him, silver eyes bright and lacking, "I won't make the same mistake with you that I made with my Kayo. Poor dear felt so neglected he just had to go and end his life. But, oh no, you won't be watched from afar. I will take you and make you mine and kill the people who try to take you from me. Killing Kayo's Dragonette and believing he would come to me was my silly mistake, but you, I'll do it the right way 'round with you. I'll take you first."

Harry's mouth was agape, his eyes fixed on the glint that seemed to light the man's eyes as he spoke, sharp teeth a bright spark against his blood-filled lips. He trailed freezing cold fingers down Harry's arms, drawing sparks of defensive magic against his skin that should have hurt him. This... This was the madman that had hunted Kayo while he had been mourning the death of his mate. Not only that but this was a madman that had killed another Dragonette. This deranged beast that bore Enka's face and had a mind as unhinged as Voldemort's own mind had been.

Harry stilled, fingers still curled protectively around his abdomen. He wet his lips, eyes darting to the opening in the forest not ten feet away. Would he be heard, if he screamed? Would his chances of help be zero if this lunatic decided to cart him away before someone at Hogwarts even knew he was there? Merlin, could he even defeat this man? His magic was flickering still, burning a yellow path that reddened the pale skin of his attacker, as though he was beyond feeling the sharp pain.

"Tero."

Silver eyes snapped down to look at Harry's face, his lips splitting in what Harry might have called a genuine smile, had it not been for the glint in those eyes. "You know my name."

Harry nodded, eyes scanning for a wand he had no hope of finding in the dimly lit forest before catching Tero's gaze once more. "Yes, Tero, I know your name. I know you've been following me, watching me. I know your Enka's brother. You have to let me up, okay?"

"Why?" The sound was drawn out, a mischievous lilt like that of a child that already knew the answer.

Harry forced down a whine, his eyes already filling with tears. What the hell could he say? What was he going to do? Tero's shadows were already crawling against his skin, darkening his flesh and flitting before his eyes like a beast to be controlled. He doubted he would ever be able to sleep in a room without a light ever again, if he even survived today...

His eyes narrowed, bright with tears. "You can't have me." He hissed.

Tero's smile vanished, his silver eyes sliding to black as the pupil within expanded, his wings a very real darkness that flared and blocked the sunlight from Harry's face. "Oh? And why would you think that?"

Harry brought his hand up, snapping upwards against Tero's chest with enough force to spark his magic and have the black winged monster bowing backwards. With a pained cry, Harry pushed himself to his feet, hissing when Tero stood with him and crouched as though to attack.

"You are not my Dragonette," Harry snarled, lashing out again with his magic, magic he was unused to that rippled his vision and brought a startled growl from the creature it struck, "You are not my mate, and I'd rather die than let you have me!"

###

"Baro?"

It couldn't have been more than a flicker, a swift snapping that did not fit with the gentle sway of shadow and light that lit the inner edging of the forest. Baro stared at the spot, his head tilted, uncertain. It seemed darker than it had a moment before, that space beneath the trees. A voice reached him from a distance, Rinel's command that they should gather more men and make a more thorough sweep of the forest not quite filtering through his concentration.

It flickered again, enough now for him to see the subtle shift in darkness before it snapped once more into place; as though something were pushing to be let loose. Baro raised his nose to sniff the air, frowning at the vague scent of magic, unknown and faded, that met him.

"Rinel?"

The older Dragonette paused, narrow eyes falling on Baro where the red haired man crouched beside a shadowed drop between the trees, nothing of interest beyond the broken twigs and gentle dip in the land before it rolled to a steeper part of the forest. "Yes?"

"Are you at all gifted in Light Magics, by any chance?"

Rinel frowned, dropping down beside the taller to glare into the darkness, his pale eyes slanting as the scent of something subtler, something cooler met his nose. With a growl, he lifted his hand, flexing his fingers until there sat in his palm a twisting of unnatural light, wrapped in an intricate design. Baro watched as the older man cast it forward with a deft flick of his fingers, the spiralling strands flaring until both men could only squint and the darkness melted away like water, revealing the petrified face of Enka.


	23. Answer The... Phone?

Baro watched him, scarlet head quirked to one side as he stared down at the Dragonette between his thighs. Enka's form was slight despite the air of authority and age he carried like a cape, his body smaller than Theo's and his slender hands clasped before his chest as he stared into Baro's eyes from where he had been coaxed to sit between the taller Dragonette's spread legs, his own curled beneath his body in an almost child-like gesture.

He opened his mouth to speak, frightened eyes darting to the Guardsman stood beside them with the scowl that seemed permanently fixed to his features. Baro's low grumble had his lips snapping shut once more, silver eyes bleeding to a panicked black as he edged further from the darkness Rinel's light held at bay, his clenched hands almost touching the soft blue fabric of Baro's tunic.

"I don't suppose he had something to do with your submissive going missing, Baro?"

"No."

Rinel huffed, mouth grim, "and how could you possibly know?"

"No."

"Baro, you're being unreasonable. Allow me to speak to Enka privately. It is suspicious enough we found him hidden in shadow magic in the forest not an hour after your sub vanished. I understand he is the son of Councilmember Julo but after what happened with Tero..."

Baaro snarled, drawing the smaller Dragonette to his front and all but silencing the yelp that had erupted from Enka's throat. He stood in one swift movement, teeth bared and one arm secured around Enka's slight form as he lifted the weak-kneed Dragonette in a hold against his side he had so often carried Harry in. The heavy fall of another's wings fluttering so close and sweeping his skin should have felt wrong, should have had him recoiling or battling for dominance; but it did not. Enka had submitted to being pulled from the shadows, had all but fallen into Baro's outstretched arms until his logical sense had kicked in and he had tried to pull back. Even now, embarrassment locked his legs where Baro lifted them, caution causing his arms to lean against his own shirt and avoid the eye contact of the younger Dragonette in a way so painfully similar to that of a terrified submissive it had Baro's heart breaking and Rinel's eyes softening. Was it a lack of instinct alone that offered this creature the option of submitting to another? Or was it something far more sinister that curled his fingers into frozen fists and had him trying to hide his face from prying eyes?

"Enka did not do this. He is a victim."

Despite the hole in his heart that set his instincts alight and had his mind shrieking for Harry, Baro felt a moment's satisfaction when those silver eyes returned to normal, staring up into his face with all the gratitude of a man left too long without a friend. He would fix this... He would take Enka's pain away, but first...

Baro caught the older Dragoentte's gaze, mouth set in a grim line.

"Who did this, Enka? Do they have my Harry?"

The man shifted to be placed back on his feet, his black wings snapping upwards in fright as he turned to Rinel.

"My brother! My brother is not dead."

###

Charlie groaned as he stretched, red hair slick to his neck with sweat. He cast one blue-eyed glance at the Puffpeacock wedged happily between the two tree stumps, its lavender feathers fluffed out like so much cotton and its bizarrely square head tilted so it could watch him through one golden eye.

"Remind me again," Ron emerged from the trees nearby, his lanky form bent double as he upended the sack of oats and dried fruit beside the mound Charlie had already created in front of the bird, "why I'm helping you with this? Isn't it against the rules to make students do back-breaking labour before class hours?"

Charlie snorted, clapping the taller boy so hard on the shoulder, Ron nearly collided head first with the dove-sized bird, who thrilled a most indignant, rattling cry at the near collision. Ron pulled a face at the creature, flinging the sack aside. "And why the hell does it need this much food! Its bloody feathers are bigger than its body!"

The older redhead grinned, shaking the tension from his shoulders. "It's pregnant and nesting and one of the laziest creatures in the Wizarding world, hence why it's very nearly extinct. I found this beauty completely by chance," he straightened, running a rough hand through his choppy hair, "but that's what this afternoon's class'll be about so don't worry your pretty little head."

A sudden sound had him ignoring Ron's muttered "as if I listen anyway", his head snapping to look deeper into the darker edges of the forest and a frown creasing his brow. The trees remained still in the shadowy distance, no creature stirring beyond the birds and no sound beyond the occasional happy squawk from the Puffpeacock as she scoffed the oats. Charlie rolled his eyes, this was why he needed to sleep more, his mother was right, he was definitely starting to hear things.

Another high-pitched and barely audible shriek had his neck turning so fast he almost lost balance, his dragon magic prickling against his skin like a live-wire. He held a hand up to hush Ron's grumbling, blue eyes wide and ears straining in the near silence.

There.

Charlie took off, ignoring his brother's yell and the sound of him following, his mouth open to draw in small gasps of air. Someone was screaming, not only someone but a Destined, their shriek piercing to him even from a distance. One of his own. How the hell did a Destined get through the Hogwarts' wards? Why would a Destined come through the Hogwarts' wards? The only logical answer had his steps quickening against the uneven floor and his eyes all but popping.

Harry.

He stopped, forcing Ron to a standstill by catching him roughly around the middle, clamping a hand over the taller redhead's mouth when Ron let loose a yelp of pain. "Hush, Ron," Charlie whispered, blue eyes darting through the foliage in time to see something stand in the near distance, the sound of snapping wings clear even from where he stood before a pained shriek had Ron freezing in his arms.

Charlie brought his brother's face up, catching those panicked blue eyes and frowning sternly. "I need you to go to my office. By the floo box, there is a mobile phone with a number that is connected to Theo's cell phone. He should have it on him at all times. You need to call him, you understand me? If you can't figure it out, bring it to Hermione, but you must let Theo know that Harry is at Hogwarts."

The muffled "Harry?" from Ron's mouth had the older redhead nodding before another pained cry met his ears and the sound of something far denser than a twig snapping curled his stomach. Ron took off in the other direction with barely a glance back, his fingers gripping his brother's arm like a vice for just a moment before he was gone, running through the forest and towards the nearest entrance out. Charlie watched him go, silently cursing the need for the muggle invention that Theo had thrust upon him with instructions to learn how it worked in case something ever came up. Hermione would have to run that thing down the hill through the wards before it even got a signal to ring out.

His blue eyes locked on the figures in the distance, head shaking and jaw set. He would just have to stall for time until the mateship arrived.

"Is it too much to ask for one year where you don't get yourself into something, Harry?"

###

Harry cradled his broken arm before him, held across his chest even as he raised the right hand and flicked a jagged snap of yellow magic towards Tero's snarling face.

It barely missed, sizzling against the Dragonette's cheek and drawing a snap of his brilliant white teeth.

"I do not want to break you beyond repair, Harry, but I will snap every bone in your body until you realise that you must be obedient. There is no life for you other than the one you will have with me."

"Go to hell." Harry almost spat, his knees buckling where he stood and the foreboding stillness of his rounded stomach lancing pain through his heart. Even if he survived this psychopath, it was impossible that his child would too. The thought was almost enough for him to give in, a sob wracking his frame, before he straightened his spine and flung another wild stream of magic at the creature across from him.

Tero shrieked, a terrible sound of anger and frustration as he brought mad eyes to lock with Harry's, his wings snapping back as if he was about to charge forward. Perhaps he would have; Harry would never know, because it was at that point that a blur darted from the treeline and caught the Dragonette around the middle, slamming both to the ground. Harry had only a split second to notice a shock of red hair before Tero was up and fighting back.

"Charlie!"

The older man moved in front of him, matching each step the Dragonette took with one of his own, his lips drawn back in a snarl. Gratitude had the smaller male sinking to his knees, his broken arm tensing with pain as he used that hand to clutch his stomach and shuffled backwards with his good hand, green eyes pinned on the creature Charlie was keeping at bay. Though smaller in height, the redhead was far bulkier, his arms lifting to throw the Dragonette down each time the man tried to bypass him for Harry.

The black haired youth watched them with unblinking eyes, moving only to rub his still stomach and sink lower against the trees behind him.

###

The shrill noise had him baffled at first, his brows drawing down as he watched Erin's mouth move at a speed too swift to follow, his words muddled and lapsing into shrieks of frustration as he tried to piece together what had happened in the tent for Myvi. The blonde sat before him, their tent now the only standing one that remained in the exquisite Gathering site. It had been cleared out and disassembled in an hour, overrun now only by Guardsmen and watchmen, two of whom watched their mateship from afar.

Theo patted down his pockets with a scowl, one ear still pinned on Erin's ramblings and the other listening to James' frantic sniffling where the babe sat perched on his hip, his every so often calling cry for his missing father one that brought fresh tears to Erin's already red-rimmed eyes.

"Dammit," Theo growled, moving James to his other hip as he pulled out the phone he had kept close to his person after the incident with Myvi's brother, Kayo. The floo had seemed like such an inconvenient method at the time, but trying to teach Charlie Weasley and Baro's brother Murenn how to use the mobile was a far more complicated feat.

He cocked his head now as Charlie's number flared across the screen, the phone's shrill little ringtone drawing an aggravated growl from Myvi. Theo snapped it open, pressing it to his ear as he shifted James closer.

"Hello?"

"Theo!"

Theo frowned, glancing down at Erin's wide eyes as the submissive quieted. "Hermione?"

"Theo!... Forest!... In the forest! ... He's... Attacked?"

The phone buzzed against his ear, his breathing picking up as he handed the struggling toddler to Myvi's outstretched arms and moved from his spot. "I can't hear you! The reception, Hermione, what's wrong, what happened? Who's been attacked?"

A shrill of static had him wincing, before Hermione's voice sounded once more, panicked and horrifyingly clear.

"Harry! Harry's in the Forbidden Forest, he's being attacked!"


	24. To Hell With Tradition

Enka whined, the sound drawn from the bottom of his scaled stomach and puffing from his lips as air, his muscles shrieking in protest.

A disgruntled snort answered him before a scarlet wing nudged against his ribbed spine, pushing against his back in a manner not so discreet. He faltered for a moment, one silver eye turning to glimpse the scarlet creature that flew by his side.

Baro's dragon form was intimidating to say the least. The size of his father's mansion and then some, he streaked through the higher altitudes, his slim body designed for speed and swift travel. Decorated in scales a dark red bleeding into scarlet, his wings surpassed the span of Enka's silver tipped appendages with ease. Smaller and with a tail that was too long to control with movement alone, Enka appeared like a graceless pup beside him.

The gentle nudge came again, Baro's violet eye locking with his as a command, fleeting and worried, floated across the mind of the black dragon.

'Land, Enka. You are hurting.'

Stubbornness alone drove him forward, his head shaking in the negative even as he pushed his wings passed their accustomed speed. With each downward falter, it was the thought of the green eyed submissive that pushed him back up to Baro's side, chest heaving with each drawn breath as they crossed the countryside and came ever closer to the wizarding school that was Hogwarts.

His breath whined from him again, the seconds seeming longer than hours as they pushed onward. It could not have been more than fifteen minutes since Baro had been alerted to the phone call, to where his submissive had landed both himself and his kidnapper. With Myvi hell bent on staying on the mobile to contact the Headmistress and Rinel eager to prep the Guard and travel by floo to Hogsmeade, it had taken only seconds for Baro to direct his remaining mateship to the protection of the Gaurdsmen and take to the skies, Enka's form following his like a slender shadow. The older Dragonette shook his head, teeth snapping against the wind.

'My fault.'

Baro bared his fangs, propelling the smaller dragon forward with a nudge of head against Enka's silver-flecked tail, his breath huffing in a laugh at the fleeting tone of embarrassment that flooded the black dragon's otherwise carefully blank mind.

'My Harry is no fool. He has always had the upper hand in Hogwarts. Tero will not take him.'

Enka let his worry be answer enough, thoughts conflicted and apologetic; as sincere as though it were he himself who had committed the crime. They scattered in a flurry of emotions as the landscape broke in the distance, clouds parting to give way to the incredible sight that was Hogwarts. With miles of land surrounded by still, blue water and a forest that seemed near endless, it truly was a bewitching sight. Enka shrieked in victory, forgetting for a moment to flap and dropping like a lead weight through the air, before he had gotten his wings to work again.

The tension filling Baro's mind cracked as laughter rang against his skull, the red dragon huffing through his nose in a snorting chuckle as he dropped to push the black dragon on faster, one powerful wing locked against the smaller dragon in a way that felt bizarrely natural.

###

Charlie cast the taller aside with another burst of yellow magic, his hand lifting to swipe the blood that trickled from his temple to his eye. One glance behind him confirmed Harry's frozen stare, the Destined seeming small and oddly broken where he sat hidden between two trees, his lips bared in a silent snarl even with his broken arm clutched before him, discoloured and swollen.

"I forget, sometimes, you know," Charlie smirked, legs crouching as Tero pulled himself to his feet, his once handsome face marred by the scattering of raw magic that ran like old scars across his cheek, "that you're a war hero, and all that."

Harry snorted behind him, green eyes snapping down to search the ground for his wand. As soon as that weapon was in his hand, Tero was finished. He flinched at the sound of impact, glancing up to find the pair once again on the forest floor, Tero's nails raking against the redhead's chest with enough force to break skin. The man was mad; completely devoid of logical thinking. He was ruled so utterly by his corrupt instincts, it had not yet dawned on him that he was a creature capable of flattening Charlie with one downward swipe; that was to say if he became a Dragon even half the size of Baro.

But no; he fought without thought, without regard to whether Harry would be caught in the power he used to rip Charlie's wand from him and the razor-sharp collision of his wings as he tried again and again to catch the redhead's soft torso. It was almost hypnotic to watch him, incensed by anger, by need, his moves growing slowly bolder, stronger but with less aim. Vicious, but lacking technique. Harry shook his head as he watched Charlie regain his footing and tear the taller man further away, his eyes turning again to the chaos of the forest floor, the twigs and broken branches that tricked him and forced his frustration to rise. He'd never find his damn wand at this rate!

There was a sweep of frigid air from above, ruffling the tree tops and stilling Harry's frantic search seconds before a body dropped behind his and he froze. Slender hands, new and unfamiliar, gripped his shoulders and pulled him back.

For reasons unknown to him, Harry could not fight that gentle tug. His body slumped, exhaustion winning out as an arm wrapped around his middle and pulled him into a lap, his back pressed firmly to an unfamiliar chest until they were moved from the fighting, wedged between the trees as a larger sweep of air tore through the forest.

The scene before his eyes vanished, a curtain of velvet black lifting from the leaf-ridden floor and sweeping over both Harry and his gentle captor like a blanket, soft and relentlessly dark. It closed off all light, all sound, plunging the pair into a silence burdened only by his heavy breathing and the tiny, hurried breaths of the person behind him.

Harry tilted his head back, frown drawing down the slope of his forehead as a cloying scent played about his senses. Did he not know that scent? He opened his mouth to ask the question, only for a curious chirrup to leave his lips, unafraid and loud in the near silence.

His captor jumped, arms clutching tighter around his stomach before noticing the swell beneath his top with a moan of almost pain. Soft hands rubbed that gentle swell, relaxing Harry further still until he all but lounged against the person behind him, a rumbling purr the only reassurance he gave that such an action was okay. There was a gentle spark in the darkness, a snap of yellow, untrained and cautious, as that hand stilled on his stomach before a sigh of relief left his captor's lips. Another questioning chirrup left him, louder this time. Was his baby alright? Was that what the spark had been?

The stranger behind him seemed unable to read Harry's sounds, his shoulders shrugging helplessly and his mouth a grim line where he pressed it against Harry's soft hair. He breathed deeply, lips nudging closer to the Destined's ear.

"You'll be home soon. Harry. Everything will be alright, I promise."

He knew that voice. Harry whined, turning to sling his good arm over the man behind him with a sob of relief. This was who he trusted. This was his rescue. He would be okay now. He would be ok now. He would be…

"Enka…"

The Dragonette crooned a sound of comfort, hand flat against Harry's back as a gentle thought flickered against his mind, weaker now that neither were in Dragon form but no less obvious. A strange occurrence that… Enka's brow furrowed as Baro's subtle worry for them both trickled over them, his anger at Tero abated and calmed, meaning his brother was either subdued or dead. With little thought to whether one would be a better fate for Tero, Enka dropped the wall of shadow, clutching Harry close as Baro's violet eyes snapped to him and a smile lit the younger man's face. He clapped a hand over the shoulder of the red-haired destined by his side before kneeling down beside the pair in the blood-splattered grass; Tero's body, alive or otherwise, was nowhere to be seen.

"Harry?"

The youth in his arms stiffened, his head snapping up in disbelief before he turned, one arm held awkwardly before him and his knees reluctant to release their grip of Enka's hips. Still, he shrieked an ear splitting cry at the sight of his Dragonette, throwing his good arm forward and pulling Baro to the ground with them until the violet-eyed man had no option other than to wrap his arms around Harry and Enka both, his smile growing ever wider. Without a word he clutched them both close and turned his head to plant a soft kiss against Harry's jet black locks.

Safe.

###

Harry pulled the baby closer, burying his nose in silky blonde curls to distract himself as both Myvi and an irate Madam Pomfrey worked on his broken hand.

The rest of his mateship had arrived with the Guard only minutes after they had emerged from the Forbidden Forest, Erin's heart-breaking cry of relief at the sight of him drowning out the Dragonettes that flocked to Baro's side. The scarlet haired man had handed Harry off into Theo's arms before vanishing back into the forest with a nod of his head towards a man with scowling eyes and blonde hair littered with silver. He had returned only moments ago with the same man, the rigid hold of his arms across his chest the only clear sign that he was tense.

Theo stood beside him now in the where Harry was sat on a bed, the bronze haired destined gazing up at Enka with something akin to awe. When the Dragonette had run the curious students from the doors of the Hospital Wing and created a solid mass of impenetrable black shadow across the open entrance, Theo's mouth had all but dropped and Madam Pomfrey herself had merely nodded once in approval. 

Harry sighed against his son's head, purring at the infant's excited ramblings as he shifted against Erin's chest where the blonde kneeled behind him, his arms refusing to move from around Harry's slender waist. There was a constant yellow light beneath his mate's soft touch, his shirt hiked up to allow the magic to swirl lazily against his swollen stomach, the tell-tale roll of his baby alive and kicking his only answer when he had asked what the blonde was doing.

A whine left his lips as his arm was numbed with a flick of a wand, the icy feeling no colder than the glare the school medi-witch cast his way for trying to squirm free of her hold. He stilled with a pout, ignoring Myvi's chuckles as a quick slap of the wand's tip against his bare skin had his bones knitting back together, stiff and altogether uncomfortable.

"Hold it upright, Mr. Potter, you know well by now the healing time for broken bones. Stay still and I'll fetch you a pain relief potion."

Harry watched her turn in a flurry of skirts, his grin spreading across his lips as James suddenly twisted in his arms and tried to crawl from the side of the bed. A flick of the wand held in the grasp of the slightly battered Weasley seated on the bed beside him had the toddler landing on an over-sized cushion rather than the cold, stone floor. Theo ran a hand over his face tiredly at the child's sudden fit of giggles, nodding once to Charlie before grabbing James up in his arms and plonking himself beside the redhead. 

"Thank you, Charlie," Harry let out an exhausted sigh as he leaned back against Erin, "For saving me out there. I don't know what I would have done if I'd have been on my own with him. Speaking of him, where is Tero?"

"Scattered across the forest, hopefully."

"Enka!"

The black haired Dragonette bared his white teeth at the reprimand from Rinel's mouth, his slender arms crossed before his chest as he huddled by Baro's side almost sub-consciously. "It is no less than the monster deserves. He could have killed both Harry and the baby. He is a madman."

"He would have killed the baby." Harry murmured, eyebrows furrowed as he raised one finger to poke his stomach, smiling softly when a lazy kick was aimed that way, "He said so."

"He would have never gotten the chance, sweetheart." Baro smiled down at him, a hand unfurling to rake through Enka's black locks in an oddly fond gesture, as though their was no act more natural. "Your brother is not dead, Enka, nor will he be killed by the hand of anyone within this mateship. He will be sent before the Council for judgement and if your father is merciful he will be offered a life-time imprisonment."

"Far more than he deserves."

Rinel bowed his head at Enka's sombre words, watching as the black winged Dragonette leaned into Baro's hand as though his body craved the attention, and perhaps it did. With his silence and regal stance, Enka was a man who so often seemed unapproachable, yet the tell tale signs of the soft-hearted boy that had been frightened of his brother's shadows while trapped, tormented, alone in the woods could be seen in his wide silver eyes and the tremor of his hands. The aging Guard sighed suddenly, stretching his wings with a sudden snap before he turned to face the youngest Dragonette.

"I will take my leave, Baro, if you feel you are no longer under threat. I would like to be with Councilman Julo when this particular trial begins. I trust you and your mateship shall make it home safely and my blessings to your sub and his unborn child, may all go well." His sharp eyes turned on Enka, one silver eyebrow quirking in the closest thing Harry had seen to amusement on the surly Dragonette's face. "Should you desire it, Enka, I will speak to your father about you not returning home for the foreseeable future. He will be most pleased to learn of you finally settling down with a mateship of your own, even if it is somewhat… Nontraditional."

Enka blinked, silver eyes narrowed, before a flush of pink stole across his cheeks and he darted away from Baro's side, his mouth agape as he stared up at the taller man. "No! Stars, Rinel, what are you talking about?"

He shook his head, pale arms flung out before his body in a more physical no than the spoken word, "I would never impose on a family in that manner and I would never assume that a mateship with a capable Dragonette would even begin to think of accepting me. What you suggest is completely incorrect; Baro has been nothing but kind to me and I will forever be grateful to both him and his mates."

"It's not really an imposition when we've already had you tagged though."

Enka ground to a halt, silver eyes all but popping from his pale face as he stared down at where Erin lay with Harry, the blonde's blue eyes bright with laughter and a crooked smile on his lips.

"What?"

Harry snorted, head tilting back to smile up at the other submissive. Erin merely toyed with his hair, lips pulling into the sweetest pout as he sniffled suddenly, tugging Harry closer against his chest like one might do with a stuffed animal. "Of course, you don't have to be with us… The choice is always yours, but we would be mortally wounded by such a rejection… Wouldn't we, beautiful?"

Harry nodded solemnly, green eyes darting up to watch the look of bewilderment on Enka's face. Despite the humor, his words were genuine. "It would be such a shame… To lose you…"

Enka lifted a pale hand to his mouth, silver eyes locked on their faces before they skittered like a nervous colt's to Theo and Myvi, the pair watching him with equal looks of daring; a challenge from a dominant in an all too unfamiliar sense. The challenge of a fight or protectiveness he could come to terms with, this was something else, something almost playful and teasing. He turned on his heel to stare up at Baro, breath hitching as he realised that the taller creature now stood behind him, violet eyes darkened and wings splayed to come around Enka like one would encapture a potential Destined mate. To encapture him...

"Honestly?" he whispered, petrified the sound of his voice would destroy whatever fantasy he had fallen into.

Baro's chuckle was a soothing sound, velvety and dark and vibrating his chest as he smiled down at the smaller Dragonette. "Would you allow me to court you, sweet Enka, and eventually call you mine?"

With a noise not unlike a whine leaving his throat, Enka braced uneasy hands against the man's broad chest and lifted himself up on his toes. His breathing cautious and stilted, Enka stared into those violet eyes for what seemed an age, his own dark pupils dilating as he took in each fleck of blue and gold amidst the purple. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Baro's own. To Hell with tradition.


	25. Timing Is Essential

\---Some Months Later:

Harry huffed a breath, green eyes slanting on the muted screen of the television Theo had dragged into their front room a month ago. He scowled at the bright screen, stretching for the remote on the floor with a pitiful whine as one hand remained wrapped around his rounded belly. The twinges of pain continued on, his once sleepy baby now turning somersaults inside him at the prospect of being free in the next few days. Harry gasped, fingers curling around the discarded remote as a sharp pain jabbed against his back. He glanced down at the bump with murder in his eyes.

"Don't you even dare."

As if in response, the unborn child stilled for a second within him, before aiming a solid kick against his bladder. Harry growled at the little monster, remote forgotten as he wrapped both hands around the sudden convulsing on his stomach.

"Don't you dare, don't you dare, you horrible, bold child! Don't do this to me! You are due on Saturday. Saturday! It's Wednesday, you stay in there!"

Harry huffed, one sweat-slicked cheek stuck to the soft material of the couch as he curled in on himself, his black curls damp and hanging over the edge of the stuffed seat in a simple plait. He tore at the gentle fabric of his over-sized shirt, fingers tugging at the edges of the tracksuit bottoms he had shuffled into that morning. They seemed now like one of the worst decisions he had ever come to, hot and itchy against his skin. He whined again, cheeks puffing out as he rolled himself from the soft couch to kneel on the hard wood floor, Erin's prized white rug pushed aside until his palms touched cool flooring.

His stomach rolled, pain lancing up his spine as he grit his teeth against the cry threatening to spill from his mouth. He hissed, fingers clenching. "You can kick me all you want, I am not pushing you out until they're back home and I am damn well not calling them back just because you're so bloody impatient you couldn't wait a few days!"

He froze as something dropped within him, mouth gaping as he looked down at the puddle he had just created on the clean floor, dousing his thin tracksuit bottoms in fluid. With a stubborn shake of his head, he growled and arched his spine against the sudden spike of pain. This wasn't happening again... No way was it happening again...

Theo and Myvi were both at work, their young adult and children's battle class now a growing success. It was only twice a week they left their home to walk to the Community centre on the other side of the village, the perfect commitment for dominants eager to keep an eye on their wayward submissives. Especially, after the trouble Harry seemed to get himself into. What harm could every Tuesday and Wednesday evening from three o clock to half six do?

And Erin? Erin wasn't due back until late into the evening, Sorca having arrived by Floo that morning to drag her brother and James to town with her for some family time the blonde had been largely neglecting. Harry snorted as he held his position, arms tensing as another lance of pain drew sweat to his brow. The memory of Erin kicking up a fuss as Sorca bundled up a grinning James and threw her brother's coat at him still fresh in his mind. It had been Myvi in the end that had calmed his nerves on Harry's pregnancy with promises to contact him should anything occur. Harry whined, sparing another glance at the clock above the mantelpiece, the hand ticking by with a snail-like speed that made him frantic.

Ten minutes. Baro had sworn he would be ten minutes with Enka to sign his name as a part of their mateship. Having fought for so many weeks with both the Council and Enka's father that such a connection between two Dragonettes could be made and worked without violence, it seemed such a tiny amount of time to ask for to make it official that the raven-haired man belonged with them. Harry had all but cast them out the door, happily waving a hand to their concerns of him being left alone and shaking his head at their nonsense.

Merlin, but he was regretting it now. This baby was going to tear their way from his stomach if he didn't give into instincts and push sometime soon. He arched his back, burying his face in his folded arms while his hips remained high in the air, his knees splaying against the wooden floor. Seven minutes. Baro had been gone seven minutes. He could cope for three... He could hold on...

###

Enka latched himself against his Dragonette's back, his slim body fitting between his red wings as he wrapped pale arms around the taller man's neck and hooked his legs around his waist. The younger creature almost toppled with the force, a genuine laugh spilling from his lips as he turned his head to press a kiss to the cheek of his newest mate. The pair crossed the entrance of their front garden, smiling up at their home.

"My sweet shadow," Baro murmured as the silver eyed male climbed back down, rushing for the front door.

"Yes," Enka stilled suddenly, pausing to smile perhaps the biggest smile the Dragonette had ever had grace his pretty features. "I'm yours. And you're mine, and I'm theirs and they are mine... Stars, how did that happen?"

Baro chuckled, openly the door and closing it behind them both, the chill in the air outside numbed by the heat that radiated from the front room and the fire he had lit for Harry as his precious submissive dozed on the couch. "How could it not have happened? You were made for us as perfectly as we were made for you."

Enka's lips parted in a response, only for a near silent whine of pain to drift from the front room. Baro stalked forward, brow drawn down. The pain relief potion should have kept Harry numb of the subtle twinges he had been suffering from, asleep until it was time to eat. But it wasn't to a dozing submissive lounged on the couch that the two Dragonettes walked in on.

Enka shrieked, all but tripping over the crumpled rug and side table to land on his knees by Harry's flushed and panting side, his pale hands raking through dark hair to pile it in a small knot by the base of Harry's head. Before he could think on what to do, Baro was beside them, rumbling gently to Harry as the green eyed male shuddered and moaned pitifully.

He was picked up swiftly, Enka racing up the stairs before them to swing open the door of the birthing room and grab the towels stowed away in the cupboard. He doused one in cool water before folding it against the submissive's pink forehead, Harry's crooked smile of gratitude drawing a croon from his lips.

"Clothes off him, Enka, I'm going to alert the others. It'll be another hour at least before he's birthing."

Enka nodded as Baro moved past him, a small mobile against his ear and his other hand still locked in one of Harry's. The silver eyed Dragonette listened to his voice as he stripped Harry of his damp shirt, throwing the garment aside before nimble fingers grasped the line of his trousers and pulled down. The sight of Harry bared before him was enough to drive a flush of pink across Enka's face, his eyes focusing instead on the swell of his submissive's stomach. The touch of his hand against it seemed to calm Harry enough to allow the green eyed youth to breathe, his stare locking with Enka's for an immeasurable amount of time.

"Apa!"

"Dammit, James, come back!"

Harry frowned as the door was swung inwards, the sight of James rushing to his side and pressing small chubby hands to his face, a frown puckering his pink lips, had Harry snorting in laughter. His stomach heaved but his chuckles continued as Erin ran through the doorway, one arm in his rain-jacket and the other loose. The blonde chirruped at the sight of Harry, grasping James around the middle and sitting the tall child on his hip to nuzzle his nose against the crook of his mate's warm neck.

"I'll get James settled with a show in the front room, then I'll be straight back up."

Baro watched them go with a smile and a shake of his head. James was now tall enough to clasp Erin's cheeks between his hands where he sat on his father's hip, a trait he was becoming far too fond of these days. His soft curls were straightening as they grew, a darker shade of blonde than Erin's own in the same way his violet eyes were a shade darker than Baro's own. He would be a powerful man, if the span of his scarlet wings was anything to go by.

The Dragonette turned to find Enka smiling that subtle curve of a smile up at him, his hands gentle against Harry's stomach and his silver eyes soft. Slanted eyes skimmed over Harry's lean form against the bed, a low rumble of comfort leaving his throat when the submissive sniffled and turned wide green eyes on him.

Baro smirked. Every single one of his children was going to be beautiful.

###

"He's tiny."

Harry's eyelids flickered from his half-sleep, his head lolling against the solid mass of muscle he had been pulled against. Pale hands drew him up higher, while another set of equally pale hands tugged the light sheet around his middle.

Harry tilted his head back to smile sleepily at Baro before patting Enka's hands in thanks, his lids already falling shut once more.

Erin watched him with a wrinkle of his pert nose, grinning widely. He was sat by Harry's side, a chair pulled close to the bed as he cradled the tiny thing in his arms. The memory of how small his beautiful James had been was nothing compared to the tiny face that stared up at him now. Green eyes, huge and filled with curiosity stared at him, rosebud lips open in thought. His skin was a peachy white, pinkened with a healthy flush and soft beneath his fingertips. There was no mistaking the shock of bronze hair that fell about his head, thick and light enough to fluff out each time he was passed to someone else. Erin chuckled.

"No offense Theo, sweetheart, but this version of you is so much cuter."

Theo huffed at him, before his brown eyes locked with the baby's wide gaze again and he melted at the sight of his son, his eyes bright. He took the tiny little human with a look of devotion, before bending his knees so that the child perched on Myvi's lap could see their new brother.

James squirmed to inch closer, his eyes wide with awe and his face coming ever closer to the baby until he pressed his cheek to the infants and purred a high-pitched sound that had Baro eyeing him with an amused smile.

"Do you like your little brother, James?"

The youth chirruped back, planting a wet kiss on the baby's brow that had green eyes squinting up at him as if to decide whether or not such an action should be allowed.

"What's his name, Sire?" Purple eyes expanded happily, never leaving the observant face of his tiny new brother.

"It'll be your Apa who decides that, James, once he is awake enough to. We've all given an input so Apa will find one that suits."

The exhausted form wedged between Enka and Baro wiggled suddenly, heavy lids rising to peer at the two infants with a small smile. He watched the pretty blonde cherub nudge his nose against the newborn's neck, cooing until the baby began to drift, his eyelids sliding shut.

"What's his name, Jamie?" Harry asked groggily, ignoring Theo's uncertain rumble and Erin's snort of amusement.

James looked up at him, lips splitting in an ecstatic grin. "He smells like Daddy's trees, soft and sweet. He's like a Willow."

Harry nodded decisively, eyes closing and smile lighting his lips. "Willow it is."


	26. Epilogue

\---Twelve Years Later:

It moved.

The tiniest flutter of a still beating heart against its fuzzy chest, its pretty silver wing batting against the warm breeze that filtered through the rays of sun. He rubbed it gently, one slender finger petting its shiny plumage in a gentle effort to calm its harsh breathing. The bowl of water sat beside his small form, tepid and rippling as he dipped his digits beneath its surface before bringing them back to cool off the tiny bird.

Willow gasped, his head rearing back when the baby bird suddenly gave a shrill cry before snapping open its feathery wings and taking off. It wobbled for a moment, unsure and frightened still, before setting its sights on the familiar gutters of their home it had nested from. Willow watched it head home with a grin, bronze hair an unruly shade of copper red in the final light of the setting sun and wild where it sat around his shoulders, as though no comb would ever have hope of taming the messy locks.

He was a dirt child, as his Apa called him often; a soul meant to be softened with mud and painted in sunlight and leaves. He couldn't agree more. Never was Willow happier than when the rain fell and he could drag his brother through the patches of warm mud that sat around the back of their home. He loved the flowers his Papa grew in the Spring and the trees his Sire helped him to water that were his namesake. He loved flying with his fathers when they were in their Dragon form, high enough that the clouds dampened his wild hair and his Mama shrieked at them to come down before she had to bang a few skulls together.

It would be amazing to have wings like his Dragon daddys and his brother.

"Was it okay?"

Willow craned his neck to stare wide green eyes up at the boy now stood behind him. Though older in a sense, James was smaller than Willow, his face that of a boy barely reaching his double digits despite the impressive scarlet wings that let everyone know he had hit puberty. The blonde crouched beside Willow, small face scrunched in remorse as it searched for the little bird and blonde hair sleek where it sat against the boy's shoulders. Willow sighed and wrapped an arm around the smaller, yet older boy, rubbing his hair despite his still-wet fingers.

"S'okay, Jamie. He flew back up to his Mummy and Daddy. You can hear him, listen."

Willow watched Jamie tilt his head to listen, his violet eyes widening and crinkling the scales against his cheek. His brother was special, Willow knew that. When he had been a baby and small and weak, James had grown quickly and had had to take care of him, to be careful. Just like his brother had had to mind him, so had Willow to now mind his older brother. Now it would be Willow's turn to grow big faster and get stronger while James would take a little longer and need extra help. It seemed like a fair trade to him for not having wings.

"I can hear him!" James thrilled happily, a pretty sound that had Willow's lips curving in a smile.

"You see? Lady didn't hurt him all that bad, she just wanted to play. She needs to be taught that she's bigger and stronger and can't be so rough with others. Like us."

"So she's not a bad cat?"

Willow shook his head. As much as he disliked the feline's clingy nature and her tendency to hack up all over the kitchen floor, she was not a bad cat. She was a creature far more affectionate than most others of her kind and with a pretty coat of white that James had fallen in love with the moment his Papa and Apa had taken them to the shelter to pick out an animal. "Lady's a good cat, she just needs a stern talking to. Be sure to do that, 'kay?"

Willow watched James nod his head, mouth set in a determined line, before he stood tall and marched back into the house. The bronze haired boy watched him with a smile before slanting a look at the eight year old lounged silently in the hammock his Sire had strung between two trees.

"Are you still alive, Annabelle?"

Lazy silver eyes peered over the edge of the silken material, one pale hand gripping the hammock to prevent it tipping over. She peered at her brother for one eerily long moment, white-blonde hair almost blinding in the golden daylight. Just as Willow had begun not to expect an answer she poked her head higher and stuck her tongue out in his direction, silver eyes scowling as she slunk lower in her outdoor haven, a book the size of which would make Aunt Hermione proud clutched in her small hands.

His sister was a terrifying creature at the best of times, Willow rolled his eyes, and she didn't even have scales or wings to make her anymore scary than she needed to be when James and Willow disturbed her peace or tackled her playfully.

###

Harry snorted into the chest of the man stood beside him before darting his eyes back to the window that showed a perfect view of their back garden and the fenced area Baro had created when Willow had begun to toddle.

"Did you see her face? Merlin, where have I seen that look before?"

Erin grinned, pale blue eyes locked on the twelve year old that was crawling steadily closer to the unsuspecting girl in the hammock, his green eyes alight with glee and a bowl of water clutched in his hands. "That'd be Enka when Baro tells him to turn the light beside the bed off and go to sleep before he takes all his books away."

"Awwwww," Harry mimicked Enka's delicate whine, simpering lightly and cuddling as close to Erin as he could get, "But... But Baro, surely you wouldn't take my books, would you? I adore them more than I adore the stars..."

Erin grabbed the smaller man around the waist, growling a playful growl low in his throat and casting the towel he had been using to dry the ware aside. "Don't give me that look, Enka, flower, you know that is incredibly unfair of you... I want only for your pretty eyes not to be damaged, beloved." Erin's silken tones deepened to mimic Baro's sultry voice, sounding vaguely as though the blonde had something caught in his throat.

Harry pressed himself bodily against the taller submissive, breaking out in a loud sigh and dropping his head back to let his jet black waves spill against his back. "Oh, Baro... I adore you more than I adore both my stars and my books. Let us go romp in whatever room is devoid of children until the house shakes with my cries of pleasure." Erin stiffened, his lips clamping shut over a snort of laughter as he stared down into Harry's eyes.

"Who says 'romp'?"

Harry felt his chest heaving with the force of trying to hold back his chuckles, his eyes watering until Erin suddenly grinned and winked at him, his lips parting in a very human, very cartoonish growl of appreciation. Their howling laughter paused for the briefest moment as the back door slammed open and a blur of bronze and golden-tinted skin darted past, fleeing from the room not a second later than it took for a very wet and furious looking Annabelle to stride through the kitchen, her silver eyes alight with murder and her petite form stalling only long enough to grab the wooden spoon from the table.

"That's going to end well." Erin smiled pleasantly, turning his back on the scene to retrieve his towel, one finger hooked in the band of Harry's trousers to prevent his young mate from running off after them. Harry whined, a genuine sound.

"Erin, she'll hurt him and he'll hurt her and what if they wake the twins?"

"That's what mates are for." Erin answered with a grin, tossing a stack of dried plates at Harry so that the dark haired man had no choice but to grab for them and turn towards the cupboards. "If Theo and Myvi cannot prevent one war between their own offspring, they are in no fit state to teach battle and defence to other kids."

There was a sudden clatter and a disconcerting yelp from a rather squeaky voice that sounded further into the house and Erin paused before shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "And if Enka and Baro cannot take one second from their paperwork and rest time to care for a pair of woken four month olds then they don't deserve rest or time off work."

He paused, blonde brow quirking at the silence before an ear-splitting wail sounded through the house, quickly followed by a second. The blonde nodded his head as though satisfied, wincing when his fingers had to clench in the material of Harry's shirt to stop him responding to the wailing cries of the infants. He huffed as he dragged a chair across the tiled floor, sitting down and all but dragging his younger mate onto his lap and holding him there.

"Trust them, Harry. C'mon, beautiful, we've been working on this. Let go of some of the load, okay?"

Harry relented, quieting his whining at the sound of his two beautiful boys shrieking, alone and afraid in their cots, their greeny-grey eyes screwed shut and their brilliant blue scales no doubt clashing with their rosy cheeks and skin, midnight dark hair curled with sleep. He sat frozen, lips trembling for one awfully long second before the cries suddenly cut off and a peal of laughter had him straightening in Erin's lap. A comforting growl answered that giggle, another deeper one forcing a chuckle from the larger baby before the sound of movement upstairs had him relaxing backwards.

"Sorry, Erin. I panicked."

"Like you always do." The blonde replied with a grin, wrinkling his nose as he drew the smaller male back to nuzzle against his neck. Harry smiled, fingers gripping Erin's arm where it wrapped around his waist as the sound of small feet entered the kitchen. Harry cracked one green eye to see James smiling up at him, a fluffy white cat clutched in his small hands.

He was the equivalent of a ten year old and it bewildered Harry still how strange the aging process was for Dragonettes. For seven years he had grown and stretched and, come the eight, hit puberty and woken in the night sniffling and sore to wings nearly twice his size and a sudden decline in speech. It had taken two years before he had begun to learn to speak once more, managing both his primary instincts and a more human practice of asking questions and learning a routine. After four years, the boy could finally speak in sentences once more and had no longer needed the tutor Mureen had assigned for him. He had not aged since that night and would not begin to for another six years. By the time his baby brother Willow was eighteen and searching for a career, James would only be the equivalent of a thirteen year old boy.

It was a process that baffled and confused him to this day. Though, where it had once upset him to know James would not go to school and study as normal but instead take on an advanced tutor to learn; Harry had come to terms with it and could not deny that the process had done no harm to either Baro or Enka. In a way, it seemed almost like a small gift. Where the child had grown too swiftly from his infancy and baby bottles, the sweet-faced preteen would be around for a lot longer and retain an innocence he was sure Willow would lose in the next six years.

Harry gripped the child under the arms to pull him into his lap, cuddling both James and their little cat close as Erin chuckled at him. Harry swept pale blonde hair away from the boy's forehead. "What're you up to, sweetheart?"

James smiled at his Papa before holding the cat out to Harry. "I was telling Lady that she must be careful with things smaller than herself, like Willow told me to, Apa. We must be nice 'cause we forget how strong we are sometimes."

"Very true." Erin's grin softened to a smile, his hand reaching out to scratch the feline's head before pulling James close to kiss his forehead. "Your brother's a smart boy and you are too for understanding. How's about we let Lady out back for a bit, hmm?"

Harry wormed his way from the blonde's lap, setting their son on his feet and smiling at the pair before wandering off towards the main body of the house. The living room was empty, the television flashing a bright cartoon and the sound muted. The dark haired man sighed as he made his way down the main hall towards the training room.

In the room lit by so many windows and the panels of light that hung from the ceiling, Harry grinned at the picture before him of Annabelle held in Myvi's punishing hold, his dominant's blue eyes hard as she listened to the snappy blonde child recite the family rule written on the wall beside the training pads.

"Family must not hurt one another. We are blood, we are kin, we are one." Annabelle sniffled, lips pouting as she kicked her legs in Myvi's hold, no longer looking to be free but the idle swing of a child who understood that they had been bold. "Mama, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit him but he got me all wet."

"Wet clothes can be dried. Jokes can be dealt with and the joker can be punished if he has caused harm." Myvi's low voice sounded out, her blue eyes softening as she looked down at the tiny little girl with Erin's blonde locks and Enka's silver eyes, "what cannot be fixed is trust broken by violence and cruelty. You reacted in hurt with anger and that is wrong, especially to your sibling. You could have seriously hurt him, Belle."

Harry's eyes flicked from where Annabelle sniffled regretfully to where Theo sat on a cushioned mat, Willow's small form wedged between his legs as he pressed gentle fingers to the rapidly swelling bump on the boy's forehead, no doubt caused by the wooden spoon discarded on the floor. Willow was sniffling, curled against his Sire's chest in a momentary lapse of maturity and throwing Annabelle hurt-filled glares as Theo soothed him and rubbed his back.

"I'm s-sorry W-Will... Willow," Annabelle wailed, kicking out with her legs until Myvi put her down and she raced to her brother's side, curling up in what they all knew was merely a temporary show of love and affection; Annabelle was a being far too content with her own company not to try and drive her siblings away at times. Still, Willow smiled down at her, green eyes ever forgiving as he pulled the little blonde against him and kissed her forehead.

Harry backed away with a smile, hand scrubbing against his nose as he made his way back to the hall and turned suddenly to swing onto the landing. Slender hands gripped his middle, hauling him upwards until he sat perched against someone, thighs spread to each of the Dragonette's hips as a low growl of approval met his ears.

"Baro! Put me down!"

Baro merely chuckled, blood red hair pulled in a loose plait that let strands frame his pale face and violet eyes flicking first to Harry and then to Enka as the smaller Dragonette moved past him with a baby cradled in each arm. Harry huffed as he was carried like his children back to the empty sitting room and dropped into the plush couch he and Erin spent most evenings in. He grinned, spreading his arms wide as one baby was given to him and then the other, their chatter-like noises drawing a coo from his own lips.

Beren shrieked up at him, green eyes flashing grey as he slapped his hands against Harry's chest and hoisted himself into an almost sitting position, his lips spread to show off his toothless gums. The larger of the two boys had a smattering of azure-blue scales across his right eye, bright and alluring as Baro's vivid red but with a shimmer not unlike the silver scales that decorated Enka's pale thighs and bled to white above his knees.

Olyn, the smaller twin and often the quieter of the pair, had no visible scales beyond the faint baby blue in the centre of his palms. His wings, however, were a shade darker than his brother's and he played with the edge of one happily where he lounged against his Papa's chest, eyes still dull with sleep.

"My beautiful boys."

Harry gave an indignant whine as Olyn was suddenly grabbed from his chest, Erin's mouth coming down to land on his before the blonde stalked away with a simple: "He's my beautiful boy, yes he is, yes he is!"

"We did not gain two puppies, Erin, precious, please do refrain from coddling the children."

The blonde snorted, sticking his tongue out at Baro and clutching the baby close as he settled himself in the new loveseat they had acquired only four months ago when Harry had gone into labour and broken his waters all over the old one without even realising it. Enka stole the second infant before settling in beside the blonde, his silver eyes bright as he wrapped the baby in slender arms and listened to Beren talk nonsensical sounds in his ear.

Harry felt himself leave the chair enough so that Baro's body could scoot beneath his own, his torso twisting to lean his head against his Dragonette's chest. The rumbling purr eased his muscles as nothing else could, drawing a sigh from his lips as he cuddled closer. Nothing could draw away from this perfect moment that was his life. Never before had he been happier nor could he ever imagine himself with a life devoid of the people and children now around him. Everything was perfect.

"Oh, Baro," Erin's voice cut across his peaceful haze suddenly, drawing a narrowed glare from the green-eyed man.

"Yes, Erin?"

"Harry was wondering if you'd fancy a romp later."

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this work is not stolen but has previously been uploaded by me on FF.net under an old username. It will be updated and fixed on this site. The original creature concept was thought up by author Salus Gem: The Dragonette and the Dragonette Destined. Her permission was given when first writing this work in 2012. Thank you.


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